The 2016 Michigan Turfgrass Conference is right around the corner starting on January 5th this year. This is a great opportunity for networking and education at an incredibly low cost. This event is not produced by the MiGCSA but is a product of the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation. There is often confusion on who does what in our state because we are fortunate to have a long standing and very strong Foundation in the MTF that did for many years act as a unified voice for Golf Course Superintendents. With the establishment of the MiGCSA in 2008 as a unified statewide chapter and our success since then it has muddied the water a little bit.
The MTF is a 501 c3 non profit who has one primary goal to support turf research at MSU, and they have been doing this better than anyone in the country since the 1950's. Millions of dollars have poured through the MTF into Turf Research at MSU. Many of this dollars came from the original 4 chapters and their MTF Fundraisers. Still today the MiGCSA is the largest single contributor to the MTF from the proceeds of our three fundraisers every year, more than $22,000 in 2015. One of the extra benefits of the conference is that 100% of the profits from the event go to the MTF and thus to the research we all rely on. This years conference is another blockbuster thanks to Amy Fouty and her conference committee and everyone involved with the MTF.
The MiGCSA does all we can to help support this conference as it is a benefit to being an MiGCSA Member to be in the loop on any educational opportunities. If you are reading this and are not registered for the 2016 show you are missing out on one of the best educational and networking opportunities of the year at an incredibly low cost, do yourself a favor and go to www.mtfconference.org right now and get signed up.
