Tuckahoe Turf Farm’s sod in many major sports parks, stadiums
Page 4 • Wednesday, August 15, 2018 • The Hammonton Gazette
TURF, from Page 1
about 720 of the farm’s 800
cultivated acres are dedicated to
producing 25 million square-feet
of high-quality sod that is custom-
grown
and
meticulously
maintained atop a bed of porous,
sandy loam soil before it is cut
into swaths, rolled up, loaded on
to refrigerated trucks and shipped
to athletic fields in 13 states
throughout the United States.
In 1980, Tom and George Betts
purchased land in Hammonton to
grow sod due to the availability of
water and ideal soil conditions in
the area. Forty-nine years prior, an
ancestor of theirs named Walter
Betts founded a family farm in
Estell Manor that was primarily a
vegetable farm until 1967, when
sod production first began. The
Betts family still owns Tuckahoe
Turf Farm to this day, and ever
since main operations shifted to
Hammonton 38 years ago, they
have continually set an industry
standard for sod production that
pivoted to focus primarily on
athletic field turf during the late
1990s when a Rutgers University
graduate came and did an
experiment at Tuckahoe Turf
Farms. That individual began
working for the University of
Michigan and helped develop a
sand-based playable surface at
Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor,
Mich.
The Rutgers graduate suggested
Tuckahoe Turf Farms as a place to
get the new sod. The University of
Michigan professionals requested
soil samples from the farm as
well, which introduced the utility
of using a lighter, sand-based soil
to lay sod on, and also introduced
Tuckahoe Turf Farms’ sod to one
of the researchers at the university,
who went on to become president
of a major national sports turf
organization.
“Most sod forms are heavy
soils. So, when it rains, it doesn’t
drain well and all that. This person
from Rutgers was actually here
doing a little experiment back in
the day and they go, ‘Hey, I know
a place. It’s weird but it’s all the
way in Hammonton, N.J.’ So, they
asked us for some soil samples,
and we soon found out that we
have this sandy loam soil, which
is just what they were putting in
the stadium. So, that was our first
long-haul, major-profile sports
stadium,” Allen Carter Jr., farm
manager at Tuckahoe Turf Farms,
said.
Word about Tuckahoe Turf
Farms’ sod and soil spread quickly
throughout the sports turf scene,
and it wasn’t long before many
more sports teams began calling
Tuckahoe Turf Farms to purchase
sod for their fields. Carter Jr. said
the decision to primarily focus on
growing sports turf was originally
made as a last-ditch effort to avoid
downsizing amid the decline in
the economy that occurred about
10 years ago.
“What really made us focus was
that downturn in the market. We
had to do something. We were at
the point where we were either
going to close half the farm, or
start laying people off. So, we
pivoted our market, and right now,
the demand for that is still good,”
Carter Jr. said.
Today, about 70 percent of the
revenue generated at Tuckahoe
Turf Farms is generated by sports
turf production. About 15 years
ago, only 20 percent of the farm’s
sod production was sports-related.
Tuckahoe Turf Farms’ sports
turf production has continued to
advance and develop over recent
years. About seven years ago, the
farm made a significant
breakthrough by creating an
advanced grade of bluegrass sod
See TUCKAHOE, Page 14
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