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Trey Rogers: Sharing MSU's Turfgrass Expertise with the World

Lou Anna K. Simon, Trey Rogers, Mark Hollis

“Our job as researchers is not to react to what’s happening today; what’s happening today we should have been reacting to 10 or 15 years ago, and we were,” turfgrass management guru and professor of plant, soil and microbial sciences at MSU John “Trey” Rogers tells Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon and Spartans Athletic Director Mark Hollis.  “We have been ahead of what Michigan needs for quite a while now, and our Spartan grads are everywhere.”

Rogers talks about the rewarding experience of being a parent to a MSU student-athlete and describes in more detail the research he and his team perform at the Hancock Turfgrass Research Center.

“Michigan State University has played a big role in promoting the idea that we can have a good grass surface to play our sports on, and there is no excuse for not having that.  We can show you the technological aspects of building the field and provide the educated field manager who will make the decisions that will make sure that field continues to perform.

“I actually think, to be honest, that some of our work in the 90’s made the artificial turf people come up with better artificial turf fields.  We sent the volley back across like a screaming shot down the back line that said you better get better.”

Rogers is focusing his current research efforts on golf course renovations.

“For me, the idea is sustainability.  We have to develop methodologies to create sustainability.  And by that I mean there’s going to come a day when grasses are available that can go 60 or 90 days without water.

“What’s missing is how to readily convert the grasses we have now to what we need without very much downtime or the losing of too much money.  And our golf courses that are dependent on daily play have to be able to convert very quickly.”

He’s working a lot in Detroit where he says the harsh winter of 2014 killed most of the greens on area courses.  And he and his team share their cutting edge knowledge with communities around Michigan seeking to upgrade their high school fields.  This sharing is a prime example of MSU’s land grant mission.

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