Turf Management
When people think of managed turf they probably think of a well maintained golf course, a sportsground or their own lawn. Most people would also be aware that maintaining turf can be a difficult and time-consuming process which can require a number of different kinds of inputs. What many people may not be aware of is that managed turf provides a number of significant benefits in return. Most in the scientific community agree that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations stemming from burning of fossil fuels (eg. coal and petroleum) are driving global climate change and this is expected to adversely impact societies worldwide by causing drastic changes in agriculture, energy use and water supplies, and the inevitable flooding of coastal communities as sea levels rise.
The rate of increase of atmospheric concentrations of CO2 must be stabilised. Since the world’s population is ever increasing, our ‘carbon footprint’, will inevitably increase too. In order to stabilise this increase, in addition to reducing our carbon footprint, we can also offset our carbon release by storing (sequestering) carbon in plant systems. Green space in urban landscapes becomes important in this regard since plants in lawns and landscapes can store large quantities of carbon.
It is just recently being recognized that turfgrasses also play an important role in carbon sequestration. In many urban settings, turfgrasses are the major part of the landscape, particularly when recreational areas are considered. It is estimated that turfgrasses occupy about 165,000 km2 in the continental U.S. (Agronomy Journal 95: 558, 2003; Environmental Management 36: 426, 2005). Healthy turfgrass can store almost 895 kg of carbon per hectare below ground in soil each year (Agronomy Journal 94: 930, 2002), which equates to almost 8.95 kg per 100 square metres of lawn.
Recreational Turf also plays other important roles in society; sports such as golf represent one of the major forms of exercise for many people and as such, contribute to health and fitness and reduce the burden of healthcare on the economy; urban green space can also contribute to urban cooling.
Bayer Environmental Science offers a number of solutions which help maintain turf health. All of these have been developed with the principle of reducing environmental risk and damage and offering improvements over existing or historical technologies. In addition to traditional pesticide chemistry we are also pleased to offer formulation technology such as Turf Shield™ which helps to maintain overall turf health by protecting bentgrass against damaging UV radiation in sunlight. Turf Shield™ treated turf has been shown to have more healthy root systems and thus presents the potential for greater carbon sequestration.
The Bayer Environmental Science turf product range provides solutions to a wide range of problems experienced in the various segments of the professionally managed turf market. These products are suitable for use in areas where high quality turf is demanded (eg. golf courses, bowling greens, sports-fields, race-tracks and parklands) in addition to the production environment (ie. turf farms) where high quality turf is sourced from.
Our comprehensive portfolio of products includes selective pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides, a range of fungicides (covering all of the most important turf diseases), and two insecticides.
We have a strong focus on product stewardship and the sustainability of the industry, to this end we strive to develop products with reduced environmental impact and greater user safety but with the same high level of performance which users know to expect from Bayer.
