Ozark Turf Association donates to University of Missouri Turf Research Farm

The Ozark Turf Association board of directors would like to announce that they have donated $1,500 to the University of Missouri Turfgrass Research Center.

This donation was made possible by the OTA members, and partners who participated in the 2020 Scholarship and Research Outing. These members and partners played, sponsored teams, lunch and/or prizes.

The OTA was able to raise money to sponsor both of their scholarship recipients, while also having the funds to donate $750 to the Turf Farm. Syngenta matched that donation, which allowed the OTA to donate a grand total of $1,500. Big thanks go to Syngenta for matching our donation.

The funds will be used to help operate the Turf Farm where they conduct various research. We will share some of this research in future news articles. Dr. Lee Miller and Dr. Xi Xiong lead the research teams. For more information about MU Turf, please visit their website at https://turf.missouri.edu/

Both Dr. Miller and Dr. Xiong, were grateful and appreciated the donated funds. Dr. Miller commented, “Thank you very much for your donation to support the operating expenses at the MU Turfgrass Research Center in Columbia, MO. It takes much manpower, parts and equipment to maintain our 13 acre facility (22 if you add the irrigation pond, which isn’t a no maintenance item). We appreciate this aid, particularly in these difficult times. No business or university in this country is doing well, and the cuts that we have incurred over the last five years (mostly from a decline in state funding and enrollment) will be magnified during this current pandemic. The support of this industry has been and will be crucial to enabling us to continue serving the turf community, and we appreciate it very much.”

There will be a virtual field day this year at the farm, follow this link for more information. https://calendar.missouri.edu/event/south_farm_showcase_527#.X4oApuaSmM8

As we mentioned before, we will share some of the research being conducted at the center in future stories. Thank you to all our members and partners, and special thanks to Syngenta for making this support and donation possible.

Mel