BTME x Continue to Learn: Turf’s greatest collaboration returns for 2020
The winter of 1987 saw temperatures as low as -8C in the Home Counties, with heavy snow disrupting travel and stranding people at home. It was described as the coldest spell of weather since January 1740, while a group of climatologists speculated in the New Scientist that it was partly due to global warming and we could expect more frequent severe spells in future.
January 1987, the year when BIGGA was formed, seems like an awfully long time ago to be talking about global warming and yet today we continue to face the same challenges. The thoughts of everyone at BIGGA goes out to our members and those in the Australian greenkeeping industry, as well as anyone effected by the horrific wildfires that are taking place in the country. It’s impossible to sit here in the UK during January, when we’ve had hardly any days begin with a frost on the ground, and not realise that the world is changing around us.
For our industry to survive we must adapt to these changes and a culture of education and innovation is quickly becoming the greenkeeper’s most important asset. The way golf courses were maintained in the past will not be the way courses will be maintained in the future and golf businesses will not survive unless they acknowledge this and adjust their practices to suit.
The greenkeeper has always been pivotal to the success of a golfing facility and this will only continue to be truer in our new world. That’s why I’m encouraging you to head to BTME in a couple of weeks. BTME 2020 and the Continue to Learn education programme for turf professionals will return to the Harrogate Convention Centre from Sunday 19 to Thursday 23 January 2020 and the links below should give you a little more information about some of the things that are happening at this year’s event.
I hope you’re able to make it to Harrogate for what promises to be another fantastic exhibition.
Jim Croxton, Chief Executive Officer, BIGGA
Registration for BTME is currently open and you can book your place online now by heading to the BTME website.
