Report by MATTHEW BAKER
Drought v Turf
According to the experts the worst drought since 1976 is heading our way. How will this affect turf growers?
hanging over the industry for some time”
“The threat of drought has been
STEPHEN EDWARDS, Chairman, TGA
IT’S not just great cultural institutions like the Steel Forge River, immortalised by A.A Milne as the place where Winnie the Pooh and his friends played pooh sticks, that are coming under threat from what is been billed as the worst drought in the UK since 1976. With rivers and groundwater supplies severely depleted in the South of England and hosepipe and sprinkler bans hitting millions of homes, Britain’s turf industry is preparing itself for big losses. And they’re also warning that many of Britain’s top parks and leisure attractions could face grave consequences as a result.
Stephen Edwards is a
worried man. The chairman of the Turfgrass Growers’ Association and joint managing director of Inturf says that in the last few weeks they have noticed a marginal slowdown on turf sales. But if the drought continues he feels this could get much worse. “I had a big turf order cancelled last week and I
think this was a decision based on hosepipe bans,” he explains. “We haven’t seen the real effect of this directly yet because a major part of turf business is done by distributors so we’re only feeling it marginally at the moment. But there’s cause for concern and we could end up with lots of turf going very cheap at the back end of the year, which will be incredibly damaging to the business.” The threat of drought has been hanging over the industry for some time, he admits, which is why earlier this year the TGA put a crisis
management document together and sent letters out to all the water companies imposing hosepipe bans asking for special 28-day exemption. “Our reasoning was that rather than let water run off hard standing areas like tarmac into drains our water use is different,” he says. “It takes about 28 days for the roots to take hold and the real advert of having turf over concrete is that the turf areas will filter
out more efficiently through to the aquafers and go back into the water system.” The response, he concedes, has been mixed. “They haven’t given us an exemption but they’re going to look at us sympathetically. We have to do a lot more work to get an exemption but it would be a lot better all round if we could channel water wastage from broken pipes, then we might not need a hosepipe ban. Ultimately this could have a very commercially damaging effect on all the green industries from garden centres, nurseries, sports pitches, parks and vast areas of the leisure sector. People aren’t going to want to sit on the grass in Hyde Park if it’s dusty and dead are they? And they’re not going to be on playing fields if they’re brown and crumbling either.” Furthermore, he says
there are real environmental
advantages that need to be taken into account when considering grass as a priority need for water.
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