History

Turfgrass is Wisconsin’s 5th biggest crop in terms of acreage, covering an estimated 300,000 acres of parks, roadsides, home lawns, golf courses, athletic fields and sod farms. Wisconsin’s turfgrass is the base of a nearly one-billion-dollar-a-year industry that employs more than 30,000 people.

The people of the turfgrass industry made the O.J. Noer Facility possible. Members from the sod industry, golf courses, landscape and lawn-care firms who help make up the Wisconsin Turfgrass Industry worked with the UW Foundation to raise the funds needed to build the facility which opened in 1992. The facility is named after Oyvind Juul Noer, a UW-Madison alumnus and internationally respected turfgrass agronomist.

Mission

The O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research and Education Facility is dedicated to the testing, development, and promotion of turfgrasses and turfgrass management technologies. The facility will provide the physical base necessary to conduct high quality research and offer educational opportunities.

Goals

• Promote development of a comprehensive turfgrass research program that:
  • Addresses social, economic, and environmental problems and concerns arising from turfgrass use and
    management
  • Generates a multi-disciplinary systems approach
  • Involves participation in regional and national studies
• Promote the educational functions of the facility for the benefit of CALS students, the turfgrass profession, and the general public through extension education programs.