John Sorochan, PhD from University of Tennessee spoke on "Comparing Natural Turfgrass and Artificial Turf for Use on Athletic Fields," at Turfgrass Producers International Education Conference held at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. on Feb. 17.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville has a Center for Athletic Field Safety with 25 different types of sports turf tested on more than 5 acres of fields. They did research to figure out how to lower the amount on injuries on athletic fields. On Feb. 17 John Sorochan, PhD spoke on "Comparing Natural Turfgrass and Artificial Turf for Use on Athletic Fields," at Turfgrass Producers International Education Conference held at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

"Tennessee is in a transition zone between warm and cool season grasses," said Sorochan. "It's a great place to test grasses because if you can grow grass here, you can grow it anywhere."

This country annually spends about $49 billion to treat youth sports related injuries, said Sorochan. Unfortunately the federal government is not investing in ways to prevent these injuries. About 10 percent of the lawsuits in these cases claim that the fields were improperly maintained.

Recently 18 states have banned the use of insecticides on fields that host youth sports events. That's led to the increase of the synthetic turf industry.

"Weed pressure will increase if pesticides are banned," said Sorochan. "We have to look at the reality of doing what's needed to keep kids safe."

Sorochan said it's as simple as reading and following the application instructions on the bottle of insecticide. For instance, DuPont makes acelypryn, which is a safe product that controls grubs and is non-toxic. The key is preventing play on the field for at least 24 and preferably 48 hours after usage.

Looking at a much broader time frame, Robert Denk, assistant vice president of forecasting and analysis at National Association of Home Builders, shared his "2015 Outlook for the Turfgrass Industry." Denk said the recent housing boom and bust has created excess and carnage.

"We're finally getting to the point where we no longer have to clean up the mess," said Denk. "It's now about the strength of the economy. We could have a very good year in 2015."

As far as gross domestic product, this country had strong second and third quarters in 2014. Denk said this has spilled over to the job sector, where unemployment sits at 5.7 percent. Due to the low oil prices in the second half of last year, inflation was near 0 percent. Expect it to go up to a normal 2 percent this year.

"This past decade, we've had historically low mortgage rate levels," said Denk. "Now it's more about getting access to credit. Banks have required potential home buyers to have FICA scores 50 points higher than previously."

Prior to the housing boom, there were about 1.3 million housing starts (2000 to 2003). After 2006 the housing market crashed and it still hasn't fully recovered. Denk forecasted that this year should have close to 1 million housing starts and by 2016 the market should be up to the levels at the turn of the century.