Le 1er salon de l - Association des Surintendants de Golf du Québec

Portrait d’entrepriseManderley TurfgrassThis “venerable” 50-year-old sod farm is leveraging its strengths to continue growing, including nighttime harvests todeliver fresh products in the morning and producing very large but light pieces of sod to facilitate transportation andmaximize efficiency.Golf île des sœursTo seed or sod? At Manderley Turfgrass, there’sno question, even though everything there toostarts with seed, whether it’s good old 100% Kentuckybluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass grown in organicsoil, bentgrass or something else. ManderleyTurfgrass also sows grass to accommodatespecial requests from customers who want turfconcocted according to their own recipe. In thosecases, customers have to wait a year between themoment they sign the contract and the time thesod is harvested.Manderley Turfgrass was founded in 1960 byJohn Hope. But what prompted him to namehis farm Manderley rather than Hope, afterhimself, as far back as in 1945? No doubt becausehe or an influential member of his familyhad read the famous novel Rebecca byDaphne Du Maurier, whose reputation hadalready spread outside the United Kingdom’sborders. Published in 1938, the novel (whichAlfred Hitchcock later made into a movie) tellsthe story of a young woman working for the“Hopper” family. “Hope” was just close enoughto “Hopper” to inspire John Hope to namehis farm after the one featured in Daphne DuMaurier’s novel.Was John Hope already hoping that his companywould achieve international recognition?We don’t know, but on its website, ManderleyTurfgrass claims to have earned such widespreadvisibility, stating that “none guessed that their useof the name would one day rival the author’s.” It isindeed true that the company—whose product isdifficult to export, or so one would imagine—hassucceeded in gaining a reputation that exceedsour borders.How did it accomplish all this? By playing an instrumentalrole in the formation of organizationsthat serve the turf industry and working side byside with the Georgia Seed Development Commission(GSDC) and Georgia Crop ImprovementAssociation (GCIA) to create the InternationalTurfgrass Genetic Assurance Program (ITGAP), aprogram that has set a new standard for qualityturfgrass-sod production worldwide.What’s more, the Ottawa-based company managesall aspects of the international turfgrass geneticassurance program, which provides growerswith marketing and sales resources, includingcertification, website placement and marketingsupport.In a nutshell, Manderley Turfgrass is a seriouscompany. “And one that respects its Quebecemployees,” adds National Sales Director AndréNotz, “which is why it hires bilingual people for itsOttawa head office.” It’s an attitude that’s worthyof note, considering that the company has onlytwo full-time employees in Quebec! Obviously,those two employees receive reinforcementsduring the summer, when some 30 additional recruitsstep in to lend them a helping hand.The largest sod producer in Canada, ManderleyTurfgrass grows turf on approximately 7,000acres of land, the equivalent of 250 football fields.Production takes place at five Ontario sites locatednear Quebec and within a 90-minute drive ofMontreal. Even though golf courses are an excellentmarket for the company’s products, theyaren’t the only one, and their share of Manderley’stotal sales varies from year to year. As a result,explains André Notz, the company has no “accuratestatistics on golf’s market share. Overall,and over time, the golf market is in gradual decline,even though the company is still managingto do all right.” The business’s other customersare landscaping companies and large distributioncentres like Rona.One of Quebec’s last courses to be sodded byManderley Turfgrass is the nine-hole Golf Île desSœurs. The work proceeded quickly at approximately7,000 m 2 a day, thanks to the use of large33-m 2 (360-sq.-ft.) rolls of sod. That enabled theclub to begin operating quickly, since it’s usuallypossible to start using a sodded course about 25days after the sod is laid. “Our technology allowsus to produce rolls with very little soil, so we canput rolls with a total coverage of 75 m 2 on a singlepallet.”Beaconsfield Golf ClubIs it always cost-effective to use this approach?André Notz answers: “It all depends on the anticipatedlevel of traffic. If the golf course is expectedto attract numerous players in a short time, it makessense to lay sod, even if it’s more expensivethan sowing grass. Laying sod also avoids manyproblems that could be caused by excessive rain,sun or a dry spell.”André Notz also notes that Manderley Turfgrasssupplies soil-free turfgrass, a unique productoften used for greens that has the benefit, likesown grass, of not introducing any stratificationbetween the turf and the soil on which it is installed.And with undisguised pride, he tells us thatManderley Turfgrass grows its grass on organicsoil which conserves moisture well and thereforerequires no irrigation system other than … goodold rain!Printemps 2011 21