Katie Price, Elisabeth Clover Artemis Kitchin, Sheetal Kumari, David S. McCall, & Brianna Posadas
Abstract
Precision Turfgrass management (PTM) is the combination of methods and technologies to observe and document turfgrass fields to optimize performance and use minimal amounts of human, natural, mechanical, and chemical resources. However, very few turfgrass managers use PTM to its full potential. The present study used a combination of surveys and focus groups with the goal of identifying barriers to the adoption of targeted pesticide applications using GPS sprayers among golf course managers. Participants consisted of users and non-users of GPS-enabled sprayers. Two focus groups of five to seven participants were conducted, one with users and one with non-users, while the survey was sent to both groups. The questions asked in the surveys and focus groups had two primary goals: to identify the primary reasons that managers are not willing to adopt and the best ways to address and change these barriers. More research is needed to further understand barriers by including other turfgrass field managers (i.e., sports field managers) in focus groups and surveys.
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