Benefits

NATURAL TURF – WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT IT?

Can you imagine life without it? Where would our children play? Where would people exercise and recreate? Where would we walk our dogs? What surface would our sports teams play on? Where would we go to escape the hustle and bustle of city life? More importantly, what would happen to our health and to the environment? Where would we go to relax?

Turf grasses play a critical role in the general health and welfare of our nation and as a result of increasing urbanisation and deforestation; they are becoming more and more important for human health. Turf is not only a major source of beauty and comfort in our lives but also a cleansing answer to our environment.

Lawn is usually the centrepiece of a garden and most people still regard a turfed yard as part of the Australian dream. Lawn assists in turning a house into a home. It not only softens the look of a landscape and increases the beauty of your home but can also increase its value too.

Turf is the perfect environment for people of all ages. No matter the usage; raising a family, walking the dog, having a BBQ, playing professional sport or just having a kick around with friends, there’s no better surface. It reduces the incidence of personal injuries through its cushioning ability and children in particular are much better protected when playing and falling on grass than any other surface.

Heat Mitigation of Living Turf

“Why does heat in our cities matter? Urban heat has a major impact on how people live in our cities, with extreme heat killing more people than any other natural hazard. It also reduces the overall health and well being of the community and makes our economy less productive. Cities around Australia have developed heat islands as they have changed from natural to built landscapes, replacing cooler green open spaces and trees with constructed materials that retain heat. Understanding how heat islands develop and how to cool cities can be done by knowing how different land surfaces types heat up during summer. This is especially important as our cities become hotter over the coming decades in response to climate change.”

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Living turf has long been recognised by fire agencies as a desirable component of landscaping to prevent or reduce damage from bushfire. Turf has the further benefit of providing a defendable space from which firefighters can seek to protect properties. In the Australian Standard 3959 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas, managed turf is not considered a bushfire hazard. Land areas across which the principal vegetation cover is live turf, such as sports fields, maintained lawns, golf courses and other managed grasslands are termed low threat vegetation. The Victorian CFA’s Landscaping for Bushfire guide also describes the benefits of turf and its maintenance requirements to reduce bushfire risk. All natural turf varieties actively grow in summer which means it is able to be maintained in a green, healthy state over the peak bushfire season in Australia. This makes turf is an ideal groundcover for use in Asset Protection Zones

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Turf improves our quality of life

Irrigated turf has been proven to be the best urban heat island mitigator.

Turf improves air quality and helps keep our cities and local environments clean and safe. It’s an essential part of a city landscape 

Turf’s aesthetic appeal improves our enjoyment of life. Research studies have found that when people live or work close to parks and gardens they are less susceptible to high blood pressure, stress and depression. Psychologically, the colour green makes us feel closer to nature by being beautiful, restful and relaxing

Lawns and parks provide oases of calm from the stress and trials of daily life.

Contributing to a strong economy

Turf is a huge and diverse industry employing directly and indirectly, over 400,000 people in farming, landscaping, maintenance, management and design, to name a few.

The estimated amount of turf in production in Australia is 36,394,436 m2.

The estimated farm gate value of turf is $243,858,209.00

The average number of employees per turf farm is 8.1 FTE, with some farms in WA having up to 45 employees, through to one man farms.

The average revenue per FTE (Full time equivalent) is $237,133.00.

Mental and Physical Health Benefits Environmental Sustainability Affordability
  • More oxygen output than trees
  • 4.645m2 turf provides enough oxygen for a family of four every day.
  • Safe and positive playing area for children
  • Helps children with attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder
  • Gardening as a therapeutic, healthy past time. Mowing lawns provides physical activity.
  • Keeps aged/disabled mobile on soft ground
  • Community appeal – increased safety, lower crime, neighbours can socialise
  • Supports lower blood pressure, reduced muscle tension, improved attention, reduced anger
  • Helps sick patients to recover more quickly
  • Employers with view of lawns have less stress, fewer headaches, increased work productivity
  • Place for recreation and encouraging activity
  • Safe cushioning for outdoor games, sport
  • Natural, no chemicals
  • No landfill
  • Cools the environment - 30 degrees cooler than asphalt, 14 degrees cooler than bare soil
  • Natural air conditioning
  • Provides an environment for wildlife, pets
  • Absorbs carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide
  • Helps counter the greenhouse effect
    Traps dust, dirt and smoke released into the atmosphere keeping air cleaner
  • Reduces pollution and runoff to avoid flooding
  • Helps with absorbing noise and noise pollution in urban areas
  • Fibrous root system contributes to soil restoration and diminish soil erosion
  • Fire retardation by buffer areas reducing bushfires
  • Acts as barrier for chemicals entering soil
  • Long term cost savings
  • Cheaper than other ground covers
  • Turf is sold directly from grower to customer, no middle man costs
  • Easy and affordable to maintain
  • Adds to the look and feel of the property
  • Increases the re-sale value of a property
  • Cost effective way to increase resale value
  • With care, grass can last for a lifetime
  • Cleans up blood, bacteria from sport usage and general outdoor entertaining

References