Tens of millions of pounds of Oregon grass seed was used for the eight stadiums and 71 practice fields for the recent 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

As was reported in the Capital Press, that seed came from Pure Seed in Canby. How Oregon seed came to be the choice of the organizers of the match is an interesting story.

“I just think our growers deserve to know their grass is being used around the world, and it’s making a difference,” said Crystal Rose-Fricker, CEO of Pure Seed.

That natural turf grown from Oregon seed is good enough for an international sporting event raises a question that we’ve asked before: Why isn’t it good enough for Oregon college football programs — particularly Oregon State University?

Oregon State University and the University of Oregon played on natural turf for decades before each switching to AstroTurf in 1969. The fields of both Reser and Autzen stadiums have been upgraded several times since, each time with new varieties of fake grass.

Why?

It’s an age-old question, one for which seed growers have been unable to get a satisfactory answer. It is particularly galling in the case of OSU, a land-grant institution with a world-class turf management program that’s located in a region known as the Grass Seed Capital of the World.

Athletic facility managers who favor artificial turf point to the old days when wet grass playing fields would turn into mud as games progressed. Heavily used fields needed constant reseeding and constant watering during dry summers.

But natural turf proponents point out that the fake stuff isn’t maintenance free. In some cases, new varieties have been replaced after only one season.

There have been surveys that show athletes prefer natural turf. They say the fake turf causes more injuries.

Turf management has come a long way since the 1960s. More robust, tougher varieties have been developed and the science of drainage and soil systems has advanced. OSU’s own experts in the College of Ag say it’s “more than feasible” to have a natural turf football field in wet Western Oregon.

Growers say natural turf on Reser Stadium would serve as a showcase for Oregon’s grass seed industry. Indeed.

But that’s not to be. Unfortunately, the athletic department shows no interest in moving away from FieldTurf, the plastic grass made by a Canadian company now used on the field.

That’s a shame.

Oregon turf has held up on the soccer fields in the deserts of Qatar, it would serve well on the playing fields of Corvallis.