MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Travis Meacham grabbed a shovel from his truck and used it to heft a clump of Kentucky bluegrass from the field.

He pointed out the size of the roots and the soil moisture around the plant.

As he pressed the clump back into place, Meacham said it would look like it had never been taken out.

“If you went out there later in the afternoon, you probably couldn’t even find that spot,” he said.

Meacham knows grass.

He is the former chairman of the Washington Turfgrass Seed Commission and is now chairman of the Washington Turfgrass Seed Association, the lobbying arm of the industry.

About 154 grass seed farmers belong to the commission, raising about 55,000 acres, including 35,000 acres of Kentucky bluegrass; 13,000 acres of fescue and 7,000 acres of ryegrass.

Total value of cleaned turfgrass seed in Washington was nearly $70 million last year, said Shane Johnson, administrator for the commission and association.

Meacham and other leaders in the grass seed industry want to usher in a new era for grass seed.

“It’s grasses for the future, both for the consumer and the farmer,” said Orlin Reinbold, one of the owners of Clearwater Seed in Spokane.

“The modern yard is changing,” he said. “We have climate change, and we have consumers that want low-maintenance lawns. They don’t want to be mowing their grass all the time.

“All these factors lead into what we’re trying to breed for,” he said. “And it’s got to be able to yield, and the farmer has to make money growing it.”

Grass seed markets

Grass seed has been as much as 20% of the production at Friehe Farms in Moses Lake, Wash., where Meacham is manager. It’s now about 5% due to market fluctuations.

“It’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster, there’s been both some good and bad,” Meacham said.

Demand for seed purchased from growers was steady, if slow, before the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Then it skyrocketed during the flu-caused shutdowns.

“Everybody was at home and they needed stuff to do,” Meacham said. “So they redid their lawns and did a lot of home improvements … so a lot of grass seed got moved during that period.”

Once the COVID rush subsided, the demand for grass seed bumped downward, accompanied by large seed inventories and lousy weather.

“Weather on weekends during the spring dictates grass sales,” Meacham said. “If the weather is nice on a number of weekends during the spring, grass sales really respond to that. It’s a weird dynamic.”

Meacham expects the grass seed market to eventually rebound.

“Consistency would be really nice, just to have a consistent, smooth market,” he said. “Some of this volatility may work for some, but it is nice knowing what your production acres are going to be, and be able to have a nice, consistent rotation.”

Grass breeding

The industry got a jolt of energy in 2018 when Michael Neff began emphasizing grass breeding efforts at Washington State University.

“Grasses are amazing, grasses are just absolutely fascinating,” Neff said. “People just are grass blind — they don’t realize that they’re standing on it, that they’re looking at it everywhere.”

Due to staff retirements, the longtime turf management program had waned, to the point that WSU students majoring in the subject were taking online courses from Pennsylvania State University.

Classes on the WSU campus in Pullman resumed in spring 2023.

At the program’s peak, there were about 20 students majoring in turf management.

This spring, two students majoring in turf management graduated, Neff said. There are currently five majors.

Neff also oversaw the relocation and expansion of WSU’s grass breeding farm in 2020. The farm breeds forage and turfgrass varieties, working closely with users such as the U.S. Golf Association.

“We are excited by the reinvigoration of the turfgrass program at Washington State University,” said Cole Thompson, director of turfgrass and environmental research at the USGA. “There is a need to continue developing cool-season grasses with salinity tolerance and low water requirements.”

Kentucky bluegrass is the most used cool-season grass on U.S. golf courses, Thompson said.

“With more and more stress on fresh water supplies, many golf courses use recycled wastewater for irrigation, which is high in salts,” he said. “We hope that the work at WSU will advance these important traits in Kentucky bluegrass and benefit both seed producers and consumers.”

Other users include school districts and colleges, which have sports fields, sprawling campuses and other activities.

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come in a very short time,” Reinbold said. He and other supporters of Neff’s program hope to develop a royalty stream so the WSU farm can eventually be self-sustaining.

Washington bluegrass

About 80% of the world’s Kentucky bluegrass seed is grown in Washington, and 90% is grown in the Inland Northwest.

“Our climate is just right for it,” said Johnson, the administrator. “Warm days, cool nights, lots of sunshine, access to water, good growing days … all the things that grass likes.”

For years, Kentucky bluegrass fields were burned after harvest to remove excess thatch and increase yield the following year. It also helped control pests and weeds.

Burning was eventually banned in Washington in the early 2000s because the heavy smoke raised concerns about health and visibility on nearby roads.

Without burning, growers aren’t able to keep the perennial crop in production as long, less than three years instead of four or five years, which led to lower economic returns.

On the horizon is a new variety, WSU’s no-burn Kentucky bluegrass. It has completed plant variety protection trials and is licensed for production, Neff said. He estimates it will be available to farmers in several years.

Artificial turf

Sports fields are another area of interest. The goal is to replace artificial turf with real turf whenever possible, Neff said.

He cites pollution concerns about “forever chemicals.” Up to six types of PFAS chemicals — perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are found in artificial turf, he said.

“Artificial turf is contributing to that, in the plastics,” Neff said. “I’m hoping we can continue to develop varieties and technologies or approaches that will encourage people to use real grass instead of artificial turf.”

Other artificial turf problems include extreme heat that can hurt athletes, vacuuming or watering is needed to keep dust down or to reduce heat and it’s not recyclable, which means it goes to a landfill when replaced, Neff said.

“What was thought decades ago to be the answer to the problem of water use in turf (had) a series of unintended consequences that we’re still discovering,” he said.

Artificial turf can’t always be replaced with real grass, Neff said. He pointed to soccer fields in Seattle where people play all winter in the rain.

“No real grass is going to be able to survive that much abuse when it’s not growing at all,” he said. “But we still want to have people play and use real grass as much as possible.”

Goose-unfriendly grass

Neff has 10 new grass varieties in the works.

He tries to be creative when considering challenges for each use of grass, he said. Then he finds solutions, through available species, technology and genetics to lessen the impact of those challenges.

For example, some of his varieties include a fungus that lives between the cells of the leaves, making the grass less palatable to birds like Canada geese and other animals. The Federal Aviation Administration could plant the grass on back-country air strips, lessening the probability of airplanes encountering a bird or other animal, Neff said.

It could also be used around lakes or in parks to help keep geese away.

Now, geese eat grass and poop, “making it not a safe, enjoyable place for people,” Neff said, adding that geese can also be aggressive and chase children.

“If we have a grass that geese don’t find tasty, then we can lessen the impact the geese are having on use of a park,” he said.

State funding

In 2023, the association received $700,000 from the state for research on turfgrass resiliency. It will improve the durability and design of real grass fields and create region-specific maintenance programs for sports facilities and heavy traffic areas.

It also allows high-wear turfgrass trials statewide, Neff said. He’ll set up three trials in Pullman, at research centers in Mount Vernon and Puyallup, and in Prosser and Wenatchee.

“We will cover the whole state, in their very different climate regions,” Neff said.

He hopes the trials lead to re-establishing WSU Extension resources for grass seed farmers around the state.

Growing grass seed

Neff encourages farmers to be cautious when considering raising grasses for the first time. They should think about the market for the grass seed or sod that they’re growing and how it fits their crop rotation and soil capability, he said.

While bluegrass seed can sell for $2 to $4 per pound, some native grass seed sells for $30 to $40 per pound.

“They’re harder to produce, but they’re really valuable for land reclamation (or) a native grass lawn,” Neff said. “Having diversity in what you can and do grow can help you be able to be nimble when markets change based on economy.”

“It’s not quite a straight, commodity-type crop — there’s a little bit of tricks and nuances to it,” said Meacham, the farmer. “It takes more effort, but I think that’s part of the fun of doing it, also. This next generation of where turfgrass can go is pretty exciting.”

Turfgrass Research

Field Day

WSU’s Turfgrass Research Field Day begins at 9 a.m. June 6 at the WSU farm.

Firming up contracts a goal for growers

Most turfgrass seed is grown under contract. It goes to seed dealers, which clean and process it, then to major companies, such as Scotts, for residences, golf courses and parks.

With the downturn in markets, some seed processors delayed payment or offered discounts on contracts that were already in place, said Travis Meacham, chairman of the Washington Turfgrass Seed Association.

The association is supporting legislation similar to rules long-established in Oregon, where the state Department of Agriculture enforces payment to growers by setting time limits for payments.

Some processors, aware of the rule, paid Oregon growers consistently but delayed payments to Washington farmers, Meacham said.

“Yes, there’s contracts in place, but there’s a little bit more teeth behind it,” Meacham said. “Just to protect the growers on timely payment.”

The association is meeting with legislators to determine whether the best step is a law or change to state regulations.

Meacham said the growers want processors included in the conversation.

“We just want payment to be consistent, we aren’t trying to go after them,” he said. “It seems like the contract would be enough to hold true, but there’s still some wiggle room … we’re just trying to get things more secure.”