TURF & Recreation is almost ready to launch its new and improved website, bringing us into the 21st century with a slew of new, reader-friendly features.
We’ll soon be putting to rest our previous site—we’re still www.turfandrec.com —which we felt had become stagnant and offered little for our readers to complement what was available in the printed pages.
Our retooled site will include web exclusive features, a classifieds section, news archives, a job board, book store, a subscription centre and a section for new products.
In addition, we will provide the means to have coming events announced in a much more timely fashion. Publishing Turf & Recreation seven times a year is often a hit and miss proposition for getting these announcements out to our readers. Often, we’ll get word about an event which has arrived after we have gone to press with our current issue, yet the event will have passed by the time we’re ready to publish our next edition. This will no longer be as much of a problem. If the timing isn’t right for our print edition, these announcements will always have a place on our website.
There will also be an opportunity for our readers to get interactive. We will be including an online poll concerning one issue or another which is pertinent to our industry. Visitors will have both the opportunity to cast their vote and view the results.
Our archived news section will be a work in progress. Anything which has already appeared in the pages of Turf & Recreation, starting with our past January/February 2009 issue, will be accessible in future months and years.
All of this doesn’t come without a little bit of effort. For me, it means having to go back to school in a sense. Website design and maintenance is new territory for me, and I’ve had to undergo specialized training in this field in recent weeks.
But we feel it will all be worth it. Be sure to frequently visit www.turfandrec.com for continual updates and fresh, new information.
Ontario’s new province-wide cosmetic pesticide ban is ready for its official launch. Many of those involved in the lawn care industry have embraced the new regulations and are ready to move forward. Others aren’t entirely pleased with the consequences.
At February’s Ontario Turfgrass Symposium in Guelph, the questions-and-answers session following an address on the subject by a Ministry of the Environment official was more lively than her actual presentation. Among the questions asked:
“What am I supposed to do with the $1,000 in product I still have?”
“Will the province be refunding the $200 I spent getting my applicator’s licence?”
“Was this legislation based on science or politics?”
The answer to the latter question was “Next question.”
There’s still a lot more to be heard about this subject.
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