Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research
Project Number: 8020-21500-002-007-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 15, 2026
End Date: Jun 14, 2027
Objective:
The objective of this agreement is to support the Cooperator in generating comprehensive, multi location data on the environmental, social, and economic costs and benefits of diverse turfgrass management approaches. This work is part of an eight site national turfgrass evaluation effort located in Maryland, Utah, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Georgia. The project was co developed with a broad coalition of turfgrass stakeholders to address priority questions identified for the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. The Cooperator will quantify region specific trade offs in turfgrass performance under minimal input and optimal input management regimes, with emphasis on year round usability, functional quality, and aesthetic appeal. The Maryland location serves as the transition zone hub, providing data essential for connecting cool season and warm season performance evaluations. The Cooperator will employ advanced, high throughput phenotyping tools, including artificial intelligence–driven image based assessment technologies developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit. Additional measurements will include fertilizer, pesticide, and irrigation inputs; soil health indicators; and socioecological survey data relevant to turfgrass use and perception. The resulting multi year dataset will enable the development of a nationwide mapping of turfgrass service benefits and provide evidence based recommendations to improve sustainability and management decision making across diverse regions of the United States.
Approach:
To accomplish the objectives of this agreement, the Cooperator will maintain and manage the established experimental plots using standardized protocols that ensure consistency with the broader eight site national turfgrass evaluation effort. The Cooperator will implement routine data collection across turfgrass species and varieties grown under differing management intensities, including minimal input and optimal input regimes. Phenotypic and physiological data will be collected using high throughput, image based platforms supported by artificial intelligence analytics developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit. These measurements will be supplemented with documentation of fertilizer, pesticide, and irrigation inputs, as well as soil health indicators relevant to long term system sustainability. Survey based socioecological data will also be gathered to provide complementary information on functional expectations, user preferences, and perceived value. The Cooperator will evaluate turfgrass performance within and across species and management regimes to identify local performance trends, management requirements, and year round usability under the unique environmental conditions of the transition zone site. As the only transition zone location in the network, this site will generate critical data representing the intersection of cool season and warm season turfgrass adaptation. All data collected through this agreement will be transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service for integration with datasets from other participating locations. The Cooperator’s role will focus on high quality data generation, plot management, and local analysis to ensure that the transition zone site contributes reliable and comprehensive information to the broader multi location evaluation effort.