Lawn Care Research Report Revealed

Specialty Products Consultants, Mendham, N.J., recently released a research study of the U.S. professional turf and ornamental pesticide market. 

The results show that professional lawn care operators are caring for about 3 million acres of residential and commercial turf. Nationwide, professional lawn care companies recorded average revenues of $4.2 billion in 2003. TruGreen-ChemLawn, Memphis, Tenn, has about 22.4 percent share of this market.

An additional 1.1 million acres of turf is being “intensely managed” by golf course superintendents, nationwide. Overall, golf course superintendents surveyed said they made an average of more than 14 fungicide applications to tees and greens in 2003.

Nearly $700 million (manufacturer level dollars) was spent this past year on fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and plant growth regulators in the markets analyzed. 

The lawn care operators in this survey identified over 200 different sources of supply. However, nearly two-thirds of the lawn care operators surveyed purchased from just eight distributors, nationwide. 

More than 1,000 golf course superintendents, lawn care operators and ornamental plant producers were surveyed for the report.

The author is managing editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at nwisniewski@gie.net.