John Deere is giving its full official support to the Grounds Management Association’s #GroundsWeek 2021 event, an inaugural celebration week for the turf care sector.
Managed by the Grounds Management Association (GMA), the leading not-for-profit membership body for grounds professionals and volunteers, this new turf care campaign will take place from March 1-7. It is designed to celebrate and highlight the vital role that professional grounds staff, volunteers and the turf sector generally play in making sport possible.
Following a difficult year for the sector due to the impact of Covid-19, #GroundsWeek aims to showcase grounds staff and the amazing work that they do – and have continued to do – despite sport coming to a grinding halt. It also comes after a year where parks and green spaces have been hugely valuable to the public’s health, with increased use for ‘daily exercise’ and physical activity.
To coincide with the week’s celebrations, John Deere Ltd will be hosting its first ever Turf Technology online event at 2.30pm on March 3, live from its Nottingham headquarters. This will highlight the latest technology advances being used on John Deere turf equipment, including GPS guidance, AutoTrac automatic steering, sprayer Section Control and integrated tools to manage traceability data. To participate in this free event, register here.
John Deere turf division manager and GMA member Chris Meacock said: “The Turf Technology event will feature Robert Patterson, course manager at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, and Mike Ramsay of MC Country Services Ltd as they share their experience of how our GPS technology in particular has helped their respective golf and groundscare businesses. The event will be around 50 minutes in length, streamed live over a webinar tool with the ability to ask questions directly to the speakers during the event.”
Geoff Webb, CEO of the GMA, said: “After a tough year, #GroundsWeek is a fantastic opportunity for every part of the sector to come together and celebrate all the hard work that’s gone on throughout the year. We want to inspire sports fans and the general public to realise the vital role we play and get even more people to enter the profession and lend a helping hand at pitches across the country. We’re grateful to those officially supporting #GroundsWeek, with businesses and partners helping us champion grounds staff and the amazing work they do.”
More information on #GroundsWeek can be found here. John Deere will also be promoting the GMA event on its UK and Irish social media channels, specifically at https://www.facebook.com/JohnDeereUKIE and https://www.facebook.com/groups/keepitgreenjohndeere.