Green, green grass | Mother Nature is the toughest competitor for Jesse O'Brien and Down East Turf Farms in Kennebunk
April was not a good month for dirt. With a couple of unusually late blizzards and a drenching nor'easter, pretty much any plant ready to evolve above ground thought twice. Including grass. And grass - bluegrass, bentgrass, fescue - is what Jesse O'Brien bases his business on. Down East Turf Farms, which O'Brien and co-founder Chuck Christie run out of their Kennebunk headquarters, harvests turf from April through December from around 300 acres of fields the company owns or leases in Kennebunk, Saco, Limington and Gorham.
O'Brien says Down East Turf Farms, which was founded in 1996 after Christie and O'Brien met while working at Skillins Greenhouses in Falmouth, last year did well, ringing up roughly $2 million in sales supplying sod and seeds to landscapers, homeowners and businesses. He credits his dedicated staff of 25 — all but four of whom are seasonal — and regular customers for the success.
"We have some loyal customers and we try to build up relationships with them and satisfy their needs," he says.
These staff-customer relationships help keep Down East Turf Farms in the competitive grass world even while the turf business grows tougher, according to O'Brien. About 1,200 Maine acres are now being used to grow turf, O'Brien says, compared to the lone turf farm operating a quarter century ago. A robust national hydroseeding market, too, competes with the turf that makes up 75% of Down East's business. The hydroseeding process — which involves spraying land with a thick mix of seeds, fertilizer, glue, water and mulch — typically sprouts grass in two to three weeks, a fraction of the usual grass-growing time. To compete with the hydro market, Down East began selling hydroseeding supplies, though hydro accounts for only 12% of company's annual sales. Landscaping supplies account for remaining sales.
O'Brien readily admits that turf costs "three times as much" as hydroseed, but argues that turf is in a different class than the spray-on grass. "Sometimes you want to go to McDonald's for a hamburger," O'Brien explains. "And sometimes you want to go to a four-star restaurant for a hamburger."
And though hydroseed may be cheap, it does take time. Turf, he says, equals instant lawn. Down East harvests strips of turf that are rolled tightly and packed on trucks, to be delivered and installed within 24 hours. O'Brien has considered altering his inventory to stress hydroseeding, but has so far shrugged off any serious turf-doubt. "Everybody's got their own problems," he says of the landscaping world. "It's that old adage, the grass is always greener."
When it comes to chronic turf challenges, O'Brien says nothing trumps Mother Nature. When asked what he worries about most come harvest time, O'Brien sounds like a broken record. "Number one, weather. Number two, weather. Number three, weather."
Rain can cut into profits because saturated ground can't support the harvesting machinery, O'Brien says. The torrential rainstorm that blanketed northern New England in late April pushed the beginning of Down East Turf Farm's harvest back 10 days. O'Brien instead spent those days in Rhode Island, buying other companies' turf to ship back up to customers who had placed orders before the storm. O'Brien, reached by phone in Rhode Island, hadn't yet walked his land to find out exactly how much grass was damaged by the storm or cold-weather's winterkill. "The weather," he said, "certainly affects our bottom line."
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