{"id":85,"date":"2015-03-06T03:37:43","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T03:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/?page_id=85"},"modified":"2021-04-15T20:58:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T01:58:39","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dedicated to Better Turf Through Research and Education<\/strong><\/h4>\n

How the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association Came To Be<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Turfgrass Association (WTA) began in 1981.\u00a0 Nine dedicated turf professionals came together to form the 501(c)3 non-profit organization.\u00a0 David Payne – Payne Sod, Inc, Ed Devinger – Reinder’s Brothers, Egon Herrmann – Loft Seed, George P. Brandt – Brandt Sod Farms, Inc, George R. Brandt – American Sod, James Huggett – Long Island Farms, Marshall Scheibe – Scheibe & Scheibe Landscape Contractors, Monroe Miller – Blackhawk Country Club, Thomas Harrison – Maple Bluff Country Club<\/em> realized that to solve local turf problems, research needed to be done locally.\u00a0 Their first goal was to fund research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison to study turfgrass problems that challenged Wisconsin golf courses, sod farms, cemeteries, commercial grounds and home lawns.\u00a0 The second goal was to distribute those research findings to all turfgrass professionals to help them grown healthier turfgrass and care for the environment.\u00a0 That is where they came up with their mission statement: “Dedicated to Better Turf Through Research and Education.”<\/p>\n

The WTA relied heavily on the turfgrass professors at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.\u00a0 They gave us research findings that many turfgrass professionals are still using today.\u00a0 Before the WTA was founded, Dr’s Robert Newman, Gayle Worf, James Love and Charles Koval had to drive around the state looking for places to install and maintain research.\u00a0 Seeing the need for a research vehicle, they purchased a truck for the Professors to use for their research.\u00a0 In 1991, with guidance and assistance of Emeritus Dean Leo Walsh, the WTA built the O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research and Education Facility so they could conduct their research at a central location.\u00a0 Once the building was complete, they gifted it back to the University of Wisconsin – Madison.<\/p>\n

Understanding that education is a strong component of the WTA’s mission statement, they held their first Winter Turfgrass and Greenscape EXPO (now called Research Day) in January of 1982.\u00a0 The first EXPO was held at the public events building at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station, just north of Madison.\u00a0 Arlington also served as host to the inaugural Summer Field Day in 1983.\u00a0 In 2007 the WTA hosted the National Sod Growers Association national conference along with their own Summer Field Day at the O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research and Education Facility.<\/p>\n

In addition to annual\u00a0 dues, the\u00a0 WTA\u00a0 came\u00a0 up\u00a0 with\u00a0 some\u00a0 annual fundraisers.\u00a0 Summer Field Day and Research Day\u00a0 feature\u00a0 the\u00a0 research currently being conducted while raising money to support that research.\u00a0 A more fun and relaxing fundraiser is the annual Golf Outing.\u00a0 It is held at golf courses around Wisconsin in the Fall.\u00a0 It gives people in the turfgrass industry to enjoy a round of golf at a course they maybe would normally not golf at while raising money to support the research they utilize on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dedicated to Better Turf Through Research and Education How the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association Came To Be The Wisconsin Turfgrass Association (WTA) began in 1981.\u00a0 Nine dedicated turf professionals came together to form the 501(c)3 non-profit organization.\u00a0 David Payne – Payne Sod, Inc, Ed Devinger – Reinder’s Brothers, Egon Herrmann – Loft Seed, George P. Brandt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"wf_page_folders":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2116,"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions\/2116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}