SUFFOLK, Va. - A farmer searching for greener pastures has turned his soybean field into 185 acres of grass.
William Shelton of Holland has entered Virginia's largest sector of agriculture: turfgrass.
Two years ago, 1.37 million acres of maintained turfgrass were planted in the state. That figure grows daily, said Susan Floyd, executive director of the Virginia Turfgrass Council Inc., compared with 500,000 acres each of soybeans and corn in 1998, 92,000 acres of cotton and 1.26 million acres of hay.
“The grain market has gotten so bad right now that farmers have got to do something,” Shelton said last week. “A friend of mine in Danville grows turfgrass, and I thought we ought to be able to do it here.”
Shelton had an Oregon company blend a special fescue specifically for the sometimes humid, sometimes dry climate of the Hampton Roads region, in southeastern Virginia.
“This blend has been tested to hold up around here,” he said.
Shelton started with an L-shaped field near Buckhorn, on land historically known as Aston Farm. From that, Suffolk's newest farm gets its name.
“Aston Turf,” he said with a grin. “We thought it sounded like AstroTurf.”
Preparing the field for turf is a big job, Shelton said. It has to be perfectly smooth and flat before seed can be spread. The field is covered with a biodegradable white plastic mesh made in Israel. Special machinery is required for each operation. Shelton estimated that he has invested more than $500,000 in Aston Turf Farm.
Virginia's golf courses alone maintain nearly 34,000 acres of turfgrass, with annual maintenance expenses of $91 million. Industrywide, there has been a 214 percent increase in turf equipment in the last 16 years.
Shelton wants to cash in on that. But first, he wants to focus on the residential market in Hampton Roads.
“When people buy a $300,000 home, they don't want to be bothered with mud,” he said. “They want an established lawn right away.”
Shelton planted the field Nov. 1, 2000. He bought a machine that will move into the fields in March or April 2001 and cut the layers of sod just below the roots. The rolls then will be loaded onto trucks and delivered to lawns across the area.