Expanding the Turf: A Conversation with Jimmy Evans

Join us on this episode as Amanda Perry Carl chats with Jimmy Evans from PPM Sports Turf and Sustainable Agronomic Solutions about an industry that is so important to Florida's economy - the turf industry!  You will hear about Jimmy's inspiring career path, issues in the turf industry, and the importance of mentoring and developing the next generation in the industry to truly "expand the turf".

If you want to learn more about the Florida Turfgrass Association, including the many opportunities mentioned in the podcast, click here Florida Turfgrass Association .  

If you are an ag teacher or leader/teacher of a youth organization that could benefit from the programs mentioned in the podcast, feel free to contact Jimmy Evans at jimmyppmst@gmail.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome to the Legal Field Podcast, where we discuss legal and regulatory topics that are of critical importance to the agriculture industry. My name is Amanda Perry Carl, and I am an agricultural lawyer whose family has been farming in Florida since 1823, before Florida even became a state. I have spent almost 20 years as an attorney in the agricultural industry and have made it my mission to ensure that everyone in our incredible industry understands the legal and regulatory issues that we face so that we can keep feeding Florida, America, and the world. So if you're a farmer, rancher, or grower, you are involved in raising cattle, sheep, poultry, goats, hogs, horses, or other livestock, if you grow fruits, vegetables, or sod, if you are involved with the aquaculture, turf grass, or horticulture industries, if you are fighting the good fight to help our citrus industry survive, or if you just like to eat and you appreciate our ag producers, this podcast is for you. If you are interested in protecting and preserving our agricultural heritage, lands, and way of life, then come join us in the legal field and see what's growing on. Well, welcome to this episode of the Legal Field Podcast. Um, I'm Amanda Perry Carl, and I am your host of the podcast. And we are so excited today to welcome our guest, an old friend, Jimmy Evans, who, among other things, serves as president at PPM Sports Turf in Tallahassee. Jimmy, welcome to the show today.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

And so Jimmy and I have known each other for quite a while. We grew up together in South Marion County, Florida. Our parents went to high school together. So it's great that we have ended up kind of in similar industries to have this conversation today about some topics that we're really passionate about. Um, Jimmy, you have some really successful businesses in the turf industry. We're going to talk in a lot of detail about that later in the podcast. But to kick things off, can you give our listeners a brief intro to you, who you are, and the businesses that you have in this industry?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Okay, so I have 27 years experience in the turfgrass industry, which started immediately after graduating high school. Um, I based out of Tallahassee, Florida, originally from Ocala, Florida, and started out in the golf business, which kind of sent me in a different direction after quite a few years into owning my own business, which is a pest control business that specializes in athletic fields. And I have another business that is a consulting business involved and also involves uh precision ag technologies, which is basically items for uh spraying spraying systems.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

And you're in quite the perfect industry for Florida and South Georgia, where you do a lot of business for pretty obvious reasons for our listeners. Um I want to give our listeners a little bit of background on how you ended up in this perfect Florida business, really, where you've had so much success. Um, when you started high school, went into high school, did you have any idea what you wanted to be when you grew up?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

To be honest, I had I had zero idea. I grew up at a house where my father owned his own business. Uh it was a masonry company uh building houses and kind of grew up around the construction industry. I enjoyed that, but I had no passion to do that and did not see myself going down that road and really knew that I did not want to have a job that was inside. Like I just couldn't stand being inside. I like being outside doing things, um, and just had no idea. I I I took every ag class that was offered at uh our high school and really had a passion for that, and just really knew that like farming wasn't an option based on you know the financial side of getting into farming. So I just I just really knew I wanted to do something outside of that, like outside it in that industry. And I was very fortunate to have two amazing agriculture teachers that kind of brought this whole industry that I'm in now into light.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

And those two awesome ag teachers were my ag teachers. So a shout out to Mr. Love and Miss Adams, some of the best ag teachers, I think, in the history of ag teachers, for being out there and encouraging and inspiring so many students to figure out their passions, you know, and and what they want to do. I think we see so often, and especially when we were growing up, it was so many people pushing, you know, you have to go do certain things, you know, not anybody thinking um uh about pushing agriculture and turf grass and some really critical careers. And so I think having ag teachers who are there supporting their students, figuring out what their passions might be is so important. And before we get back on track, I want to say to any ag teachers or teachers and adults in similar roles who are listening, you know, these kids have been placed in your classes, your programs, your teams for a reason, and you have such incredible opportunities to help shape and mold the future generation. And so you may not see the impact you're making right away. It may take years, but you can see that you're positively guiding the futures of your students. Um, so I think it's really great that you bring that up that that your ag teachers had such a positive impact. Now, part of that was that you know, part of that taking some turf grass classes in high school.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yes. I, you know, I started out taking ag in middle school, had a really good ag teacher at Bellevue High School or Bellevue Middle School, and then when I transferred to Bellevue High School, uh Mr. Love was the ag teacher. I was always kind of pushed more towards the animal science and farming aspect of it, and didn't really pay much attention to the horticulture side. Uh, Mr. Love, being the father of a childhood friend, I had already had a relationship with him, so he was very aware of what he was getting himself into by having me in his class. And he had so much patience for me more than anyone else at the school. And when I, you know, as we were like, I think it was like into 10th grade, you know, I was struggling because I was like, I don't know what I want to do, and he saw that I had you know ambition to be outside, so he kind of steered me and pushed me towards Miss Adams class, which was more horticulture based. And we were very fortunate that one of our administrators kind of pushed to have a turfgrass program at the school under the horticulture division, and the school actually built a USGA spec putting green behind our ag department that the class took care of. So going into that, the like I had no clue what I was getting into. I I I enjoyed it, and then just Miss Adams, man, she took a lot, she spent a lot of time and effort in me and kind of like kind of pushed me in that direction. And then we had some representatives from Lake City Community College, which is now Florida Gateway College, come and give a presentation on um about careers like in that industry. Uh, I I would I do want to add in there that it did help that our principal at the time was related to Bert Yancey, who was a seven-time PGA tour winner. So that kind of all tied in, and like there were so many people involved in it that pushed that program. And the whole Bert Yancey thing comes into play later on in my career, but it just was an eye-opening to me because I never had any idea that that was even an a career. Like I I I viewed that like most people, when you tell them what you do, they automatically turf grass. They think you own a lawnmower and you mow yards for a living. They don't really understand the the impact that the turf industry has nationally, but really, really strong in the state of Florida.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

And I think that's the importance a lot of times of having outside people come into school, the you know, like the Lake City Community College folks, and having people in industries come and talk about some of these careers that may not be front of mind for some students. You know, I think in high school there were so many things that we didn't know existed, and kids in high school and middle school don't know exist unless somebody actually comes and talks to them about it. So that was so important for them to come and provide that and for the the provision of the turfgrass program at Bellevue High School that really is just not normal. Um, so that having that at our high school was so important. So when you were there in high school then, you met with the Lake City Community College folks, and then um that inspired you to kind of go into this career. So, what did you do next after that?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

So, so this was probably the hardest thing for me at that time, was I really took an interest in it, started paying attention to it, looking into it more and more. And, you know, my senior year, when I decided that I wanted to go down that road, that road and looked into Florida Gateway, the program at that time was probably near its peak. So, in order to be accepted into the program at Lake City Community College, you had to have a year worth of experience, full-time employment at a golf course. So being that I was not the greatest student and did not pay attention in class, my that was a that was a big struggle for my parents because my mom being at the school at the school working was very afraid for me to take off a year and actually go to college afterwards. Uh, that was never a thought in my mind not to do that. Like I had a I had a plan and a goal, and I was working towards that. So I worked at a local golf course full-time for that year, and then worked in construction after I got off at the golf course to make extra money, and then enrolled into Florida or yeah, Florida Gateway College, Lake City Community College, uh the following year. So I enrolled in the what was it, the fall of 99. And I did three years there. The first year was an equipment management certificate, which they basically taught you how to take care of all the equipment on a golf course. And then the next the next two years was an associates in science degree, and then every summer you had to do like a summer internship, like an on-the-job training. So I went through that and did a brief stint, like I think it was two months after graduation. I was I was back in Ocala and then wanted to pursue something outside of there and ended up in Tallahassee, Florida, which worked out really nice because both of my younger brothers were graduating from high school and they moved here to go to Florida State University. So I got to spend all in all, about five to seven years with my brothers as they went through college. They got to live with me. We all live together.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Which is awesome. And as a mom of five boys, I you know, I hope that my boys get along when they get older, like you guys get a loss now that you're older. I know that doesn't always happen when you're younger, does it?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

No, it doesn't. But you know, like I look back at that, and that was that was something that I could, you know, it was just an amazing experience to be that be that close with them and share that time with them and help we all helped each other out uh through that time period, and I think we're closer because of it. Um I just it it just everything kind of worked out the way that it that it did. Um when I moved to Tallahassee and I took a job at Kalaran Country Club, it was actually the home to Bert Anty. Okay, which ties back to you know our principal Jim Yancey. So that was that was just pretty interesting to see kind of how that all went about and and looking back on it now, you know, the history of Burt Yancey and him having a uh fundraiser golf tournament that he held at the golf course I was at. So just an interesting fact.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

It's pretty fun to see it come full circle, you know, kind of from where this whole potential career path where you started, and then see it come full circle. And I want to point out too to our listeners, especially if you have younger listeners, um the work ethic and the work that you put in to to kind of build your career and you know, working summers and going to college and working in construction to help fund things, you know, I think work ethic is something that that sometimes is lacking in folks. But I think if you put in the hard work, especially to our younger listeners, there are results out there for you. There are opportunities out there for you if you are a young person who will put in the work and the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Yeah, so I coming coming to Tallahassee and and taking that job, you know, I originally had like a three-year goal. Like my three-year goal was to come up here and get experience, and I was actually looking to try to go overseas to like down in the Caribbean or some foreign country and work at a golf course because a previous superintendent that I worked for had done that, and I would listen to all his stories, it was very intriguing to me. And then, you know, obviously, as you go through your career, things happen, and I I worked for the first 13 years at Calorin Country Club. I worked for a very large corporation called American Golf. They were based out of California, they owned at one time 220 golf courses, and it was a management company, and I was just just it seemed like everything always happened for a reason. I was very fortunate that I had two two great uh bosses in American golf. One of them is probably my biggest mentor in the industry. I still talk to him multiple times a week to this day, and you know, they just they taught me so much about business and about people, all the things that you don't learn in college, you have you have to learn them from a mentor, I th I feel like. Um they just they really helped me exceed expectations and and my business mindset more than just taking care of turf grass. And then American Golf had pulled out of that property, and the original owner can came back to the golf course, and I did a three-year stent there, and it just went sideways. He had some visions that didn't work out, and going to work every day was you know, I'd always enjoyed my job, never, never, you know, felt like I didn't want to go to work or didn't have the ambition to go to work, and then it was starting to change, and that that concerned me. And I did not want to move from Tallahassee. You know, my wife and I are based here, we had a child at the time, my daughter, and an opportunity came up to purchase a local business that you know was 30 plus years old from a very reputable man who was ready to retire. So it went like a it was like an eight-month kind of process to make that all happen. And that was in 2018, and I I purchased that company with three business partners, and from then to now we one of the business partners and I bought the other two out, and we've been kicking since.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

So it's pretty awesome sometimes when you know God closes a door, you know, he opens another, you know, much bigger and better door and puts you in the place you're supposed to be. Um, so tell us a little bit about that, what you're doing now, you know, and and some of the things that you're that you're doing now in this industry with your businesses.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

So the first, the first, the original business that we bought is uh PPM Sports Turf. So our business is structured around taking care of athletic fields, all you know, municipalities, county parks, universities, public schools. We take care of some private facilities. Um one of them is a private-owned polo, polo field, and they actually have two farms that are kind of side by side. One has got a game field on it, and one has a practice field. So that is that is really interesting and different to go to coming from the sports, like the sports field side, to go do something like that on a on a very large horse farm. So I really, really enjoy that. That's probably one of my favorite customers to visit. Um, the company when we bought it specifically dealt with sports fields, and being from a golf background, I was able to merge that experience in, and we actually do applications for golf courses also. So that has kind of like opened up different doors and windows, and like meeting different people where it has, you know, the business has has tripled since we bought it, and I went from being the only actual paid employee in the company to now I have two full-time uh employees that I work with every day. Um three years ago, the golf course Cologne that I was at sold to a very young local individual who is based out of Atlanta, and he bought the property, and uh his group reached out to me and brought me back in to help. And I was actually able to help you know do a superintendent search and ended up hiring somebody that had worked for me previously at Kalonian Country Club. So I'm still very tied into that. Um, with that happening, I created another company which is Sustainable Agronomic Solutions, which started out as just a kind of a consulting group, like helping out with local golf courses and doing different things. And then most recently in the last 18 months, we developed a spray rig and built our own spray rig that is put onto a John Deere platform, which connected us with T Jet Technologies, which is like the global leader in precision ag, which has to do with like applications. And we just agreed to a partnership with them to become a distributor of something new that they're gonna roll out in two weeks at a national conference for golf courses. So I think the ceiling on this is wide open. I I I think that we can do pretty much whatever we want with it. I know that the two boys, young men that work with me now, are very excited at the opportunities that they're gonna get with this because obviously that'll bring more income in their pockets. Um, but it's it's just a very exciting thing to take an idea that I was really just doing for myself. And it kind of spawned off into we're gonna be able to help a lot of other people with it.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Which is really incredible to think about, you know, you were a kid going into high school who didn't really have any um idea that this is what you wanted to do as a career. And now here you are, you know, helping create essentially spray rigs to help the entire industry. You know, you're making a huge impact on the entire industry with some of the innovations um uh that you're that you're working on. So it's pretty cool to, you know, I want any of our young people listening too to understand you don't have to necessarily um know at eight years old what you're going to do. You have to have somebody that you know can inspire you and help you figure out what you want to do and look what amazing things you can do when you're in your career. Thank you amazing things.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

I definitely think you have to have an open mind. I I never thought that I would be I would own a pest control company, never thought that I would get to design a spray rig. I never thought that I'd be a distributor for T Jet. Um, I think you just have to set goals. For yourself, keep your head down, and then you work towards those goals, and then you just have to have an open mindset to you know when something when something presents itself to you, you you have to really look at it and see how that plays into what you're doing and make the most of it. I mean, a lot of things have happened, a lot of things have come down the road that we've looked at, and it's not been the right, the right move for us, so to speak. But when this when this happened, knowing where the industry's at, like especially with AI and all the different stuff that everything's going on, like this all plays into that, and it just felt like the right thing to jump into.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

And you know, speaking of AI, I know, you know, we've talked about this a little bit. You know, there's there's a lot of talk about AI in every industry, and some people dread the the talk of AI. And I will say I'm tired of hearing my kids use those two letters when it's not appropriate. Everything is AI, everything is AI. It's not quite as bad as six seven, but everything is AI. Um I I've banned six seven in my house because I didn't want to hear it. But, you know, there's all this talk about AI. Is it gonna is it reliable? Will it take jobs and displaced workers? And we're gonna talk a lot more about labor here in a little bit, but you know, there's a different conversation here in your industry when it comes to AI. You know, there are jobs where you're always going to need humans, but I know you know, we've talked about how you're using AI kind of to help your business to make sure you have humans for the jobs. Um, and you know, we're gonna talk about that here in a little bit about how you're trying to work to find more humans to do these jobs. You know, we think AI can be helpful in you know, in certain parts um of the industry. So kind of to that end, um we have a we have a lot of issues in a lot of areas of agriculture. You know, we've got land issues, we've got all kinds of other issues, but um specifically in the turf industry, what are some of the biggest issues that you're seeing right now?

SPEAKER_00 24:08

I I think that just talking with fellow people in the turf industry over the last I mean as long as I've been in the turf industry, the biggest, the biggest interest, the biggest issue has always been labor, right? And I think that as ag if you look at the whole ag market, that's a that's a common theme. When you get into construction, it's a common theme. When everywhere you go, from restaurants to grocery stores, labor is like the number one issue. And I over the past couple years I've been sitting there and I hear the same thing, like you know, I'm an A labor issue. Okay, well, what are you doing? Oh, I'm running an ad, or oh, I'm on LinkedIn, or I'm posting the job, and we're getting the same results. Like everywhere you look, it's just over and over, everybody's having the same issue, but they're putting in the same they're not doing anything different. So just like being on the board for the Florida Turf Grass Association and listening to that, and everybody's talking about different ideas, it just struck me that like I wouldn't be in this industry if it wasn't for my ag teachers. If it wasn't for an ag teacher reaching out to a Florida Gateway College and asking them to come speak, if it wasn't for the administration and the principal pushing the turfgrass program and making that happen with grants. And it wouldn't be I wouldn't be where I was at if it wasn't for the people along the way that that really took time and put their energy into me. So looking at all of that and being where I'm located in Tallahassee, Florida, we have a lot of rural communities, and I just started reaching out to some of the ag teachers and talking to them, and I met a couple of them with open arms where they were like, please come in and talk to our kids. Please explain to them what you do. And it's it was just overwhelming the first couple times that I went and spoke and looking at how many young people in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade have no idea what they want to do. And not only did I have an idea what they want to do, the support at home is not the support at home is not what I had. And they need they need help. And we're sitting here and we're complaining, but we're not doing anything about it. So I feel like the industry as a whole has been amazing to me. I feel like it has provided very well for myself and my family, and I feel that it's you have to you have to pay it back. I I I don't know any other way to put it. I mean, you're gonna talk to a hundred kids, and you just have to go in it with the eye, the eye, the mindset of I'm I want to reach one kid. Like I feel like if I can everything that I do and I put into this, if I touch one kid to motivate him to look at different things or come into our industry, then I consider that a win. And I I even consider it a win if I talk to somebody and they don't come into our industry, but it helps open their eyes to look at something else. I I feel like that if we can start this and and see other areas in the in the state do this, I think that it will catch on and maybe the right people take notice and and we we see more of that coming from our public education system.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Absolutely. And you know, I think too often not only is it just that companies are posting a job hosting and that's it, but there's also so much, I think, misinformation that the kids are hearing that any outside jobs or low-paying jobs or unskilled jobs. And we know that's just not the case. And, you know, when we were growing up, society just kind of pushed everybody into college, whether you were getting a degree that was worthwhile or not, not necessarily focusing you on a program that could actually have career paths. And, you know, I think we're seeing maybe a little shift in that. But to your point, you need to be out there in the schools, you need to have administrations and ag programs that are allowing people like you to come in and open these kids' eyes to things because for so long, kids have been taught if you have a job that's outside, you know, it's low skill and low wage, which is the farthest from the truth. We know that in you know, in this industry and in ag in general as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Um well, there's some there's some interesting stuff talking. The most recent study that's been done is in the state of Florida alone, you have 1,250 golf courses, and that they do 50 million rounds a year. There's 300,000 plus jobs just in golf. That does not count the equipment salesman, the fertilizer and chemical salesman, anything outside of that, that's not taking that into consideration. And it's a$44 billion economic benefit in the state of Florida. So when you look at the ag industry as a whole and you start breaking down the different areas, golf, golf alone is$44 billion. You're not taking into parks and rec, you're not taking in, you know, uh uh universities and athletic fields and all that. So as a whole in the state of Florida, the amount of jobs that are out there, the one thing that I've done that I have seen the largest impact on reaching the kids is exactly what you're saying. They look at the job, they feel like it's a non-paying job. I pull up two, there's two websites our industry uses, one's on the GCSAA and one's on turfnet.com, and it has a job board. I pull the job board up, I go to the bottom job, the entry level, I have a high school diploma job. And I it shows the jobs that are located throughout the state and what the pay is. There are lower level jobs in our country that pay more than what educators make. So when you're sitting in a classroom and you have principals and guidance counselors and teachers seeing these salaries, it changes their mind. Absolutely. They're looking at it going, wait, you have a two-year degree and an entry-level job, you know, pays this plus your benefits, plus you're outside every day. You're outside in the beautiful Florida weather most of the time, except for when it's raining. So it's changing that mindset, and then that gives these kids a chance to go home and say, No, you know, tell their parents, no, look, here's a job board. This is what this is paying. That's that's real life. That's not just somebody sitting up there spitting out facts and pay ranges, like it proves it when you look on the website.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

When they see that proof and they see those actual jobs, you know, it gives them something to visualize and work towards. I think that that's so important because I, you know, so many kids, to your point of not getting really any guidance or support at home, um, if they're not getting that guidance and support at home, they have no idea what's out there for them unless, you know, people in the community and people at school are helping to open their eyes to some of these things. Um, now tell us some about about some of the things that you're doing in schools and how you're going in and maybe some of the things you talk to kids about beyond the jobs. I know, you know, maybe what what they're going to be doing, what they may have an interest or a passion in that they could translate into the turf world.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

So kind of go in there and kind of give it, I I give a brief, very brief introduction of like where I was at, the process that I went through, the steps that I took. I have I'm very fortunate because the two the two young men that work for me uh in in the PPM, I kind of talk about how they came about into the industry and I can give examples of of different things. And then I I give them a brief description of like this is what the day in the life of a golf course employee is, this is what a golf course superintendent or assistant does, or a technician which works on the equipment. Um, then I kind of talk about like some of what the parks and rec people that I deal with do. So I kind of give them, you know, here here's like the entry level. Here's where you would start, here's here's how you would progress up through the ranks. And then once you get to this rank in the industry, that's when like you learn about the sales jobs or you learn about research jobs. Um I I touch on the fact that Florida Gateway College now is 100% online. So you can work a full-time job, live inside your your same town, go through school, right? And then from there you can decide where you where you want to move. Now it's very important to explain to them like you're not gonna make the money that's being advertised in Jupiter, Florida, Delway Beach, Florida, Naples, Florida, you're not gonna make that money in Marion County or you're in Tallahassee. Right. So so you have to understand where you where you live is gonna dictate like the salary ranges, right? So I just tell them like you're in high school and you know that you don't want to work in the food industry, why are you working at a fast food restaurant? Right?

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Like go get the experience.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Find find yeah, find something. If you know you want to be outside, start finding jobs outside, find something that interests you, go do that, find a mentor, listen to what they have to say. You do not know everything that you think you know, and and kind of look look in that direction. Um, it's we've probably placed, if I had to guess in the last two years, like a safe guess, we've probably got six kids that are enrolled in Florida Gateway and working at local golf courses or parks and recs department. Uh, the most recent additional employee that I've added, you know, he he went through college, he was a couple shy, shy credits of graduating, started working in golf. He was a golf pro and didn't want to work inside anymore. And he's been with us for 10 months. He's enrolled in Florida Gateway online, he's in his third semester, he's got straight A's through the first two semesters. Awesome. Um, so it's and the point with that is he's third, he just turned 30. It's never too late to make that switch and find that thing that you know brings you happiness.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

And for so many of our smaller rural counties in Florida, especially kind of outside of where you are, if paper mill closes, if a prison closes, that's a lot of the jobs in that area. And so they're really needing to find other career opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

So the one school that I'm working with right now is based out of Liberty County, which is west of Tallahassee in the absolute middle of nowhere. The only opportunities that they have in that in that area are you can work in the timber industry or you can work in corrections. Now they have you know they have an ace hardware, they have a hungry howie's pizza, but there's nothing, there's nothing there. So more than likely, their best chances to kind of get out of there. And you have Panama City, you have Destin, which those two areas right now, our market is about to explode in the next five years in the turf industry over there with all the golf courses being built and all of the development that's being built with like landscape businesses and stuff, and then you have Tallahassee, which is is growing at a decent rate. So the opportunity to be close to home is still there. Um, so kind of showing them now. The the assistant principal that I'm working with there, he's very blunt with with the students and like explains to them like your best bet is to get something that can help you get out of here. You can always come back, but like if you want to make something with your life, you're gonna have to get out of here. And I I I commend him for being as honest as he is with them. And in that, we have added a turf grass class curriculum being offered at the high school. I worked with Beard Equipment, Turf Equipment, my local distributor, and they have donated a considerable amount of equipment to that school to use to help maintain the athletic fields. So the students are are gauging there, and I think that Beard recognizes that it's very hard to get people. So they have a plan, they have a um distributorship, I think it's like right about 35 minutes from there, and they have all kinds of jobs available there for these kids. So it's just another another way for them to get into the industry. Uh, there's a sod farm 20 minutes from there, which is one of the largest sod companies around. So it's just that one worked out because I have a lot of help there.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

And to our listeners, you can you can tell, and I can tell you firsthand that when Jimmy says he's passionate about mentoring kids and um bringing kids into this industry and inspiring, encouraging them to find a career in turf, you know, he really means this. He's donating his time, his shop, his money. Um, you know, he's super busy and is donating time to try to bring these kids, you know, into this industry. So I just want to say if you're an ag teacher, you know, teacher of perhaps other subjects, or know any groups that could benefit from this level of mentoring, um, just listen up. And Jimmy, I know we've talked about maybe you putting your contact information out there for helping folks and talk about the kinds of outreach you might be looking to continue to do.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Yeah, I'm I'm all for that. We are very fortunate that I have a couple gentlemen that are spread out through the state that are very, very interested in this and have started talking like in the Orlando market, the Latcho County market. Um, I and being in the industry for 20-something years, I've been fortunate to make a lot of contacts in this state. So if somebody reached out to me and they were wherever they're at, there's someone I can call and get them to come talk. It's not it would not be an issue to have pretty much anywhere in the state of Florida to get someone from our industry who's encouraged to go and talk to kids. It's it's just getting in the school system and having that teacher reach out.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

But you know, like we said earlier, getting just getting this in these the kids' heads and getting them to open their their horizons to these different um careers all over the state. Um and I know we've talked earlier about you know your involvement with the Florida Turf Grass Association and then being so supportive of this initiative to kind of get out there in the communities and get out in the schools and um promote this next generation of people coming up in an industry that can provide them with jobs, um, steady jobs. Um and can you tell us a little bit more about that and where our listeners can go to learn more about the Florida Turf Grass Association?

SPEAKER_00 39:36

So, Florida Turf Grass Association has been around for forever, and we have a website, uh FTGA.org. We host regional turf seminars, which are about to kick off in February, and they run from like February to late April, and they're scattered throughout the state. Um we do offer, like uh if you want to, if you're a student, so if you're an ag if you're an ag student at one of the high schools and you want to be a member, the membership is free. By joining, you get access to a publication magazine, a lot of stuff on social media, um, a lot of interesting articles about the industry, and we also offer scholarships. And I can tell you from being on the board, the amount of applicants that we get for the scholarships are almost they're almost zero. Most of the people that apply are UF grad students that apply for it, and we always end up giving them to them because they're the only ones that apply. Uh, we we do offer. I'm gonna have in Tallahassee, we have about 90 people in the industry come to the local seminar, and we are gonna have five students from two different high schools, and their teachers are gonna bring them. So it's a good thing for them to kind of sit there through an educational class with some UF professors and other respected people in the industry where they can sit there and meet and talk to people and ask about jobs, and I'm encouraging the the companies that come to talk to these kids as they're there.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

And you know, I've talked to a few teachers over the last year or so, maybe, about how, you know, if students put in, you know, kind of the initiative um to try to do almost anything, that's that's the highest level of students lately. You know, I think when we were, you know, when we were growing up, um, I feel like from and talking to a few teachers, kind of what was the norm and going out and engaging with adults just doesn't happen a lot now. And a lot of that's technology, and a lot of that is kids on their phones. And if you're that student that comes to one of these events and is engaging with the the business owners, you're engaging with the Floor Trifgrass Association members, you're going to stick out because you're that high school student who's coming and engaging with the adults and caring about your future, and you're not sitting there behind a screen and a device. You know, I think that's kind of the the world we're in now. So it's really important to come to these kinds of things and make these kinds of connections because you can make yourself stand out in the industry.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Uh absolutely, absolutely. And I I tell the kids when I talk to them, anybody any chance I get, and I have a I have a 15-year-old daughter, so I'm around a lot of teenagers, that it's the most important thing is to look somebody in the face, answer questions, ask questions, and be comfortable. You you do that one, though those little simple things. You're gonna set yourself apart from you know 90% of the people your age. And I I look at the opportunities that are out there right now, not only in our industry, but in a lot of other industries, and it's it's endless. Like the competition was a lot harder when we were coming out. Right now, I don't think there's competition. I don't I from what I see and what I've engaged with, like if you if you have some communication skills and you have some drive and you want to accomplish something, you're so far ahead of the game that you shouldn't have any competition. You you should be able to accomplish anything that you want and find find a mentor. I I preach that. Like I I have two wonderful parents that set great examples for my brothers and I, but they were not my mentors. Like they taught me how to be a person, but in my industry, like I have some very specific people in my industry that have been phenomenal and mentors to myself.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

And I think it's important as you know, is I can't believe that we're that I've been saying this, that we're in our 40s and we are kind of the more seasoned people in our industries, that it's so important for us to be those mentors for these younger people so that they Have that opportunity. And it's great what you're out there doing and donating all of your time and your energy and your shop and all of this to try to build up that next generation. And I know that the programs that you have worked with are so grateful for the opportunities provided to the students. And I will put in for all of our listeners, I will put these um websites, some of this information about FTGA in the description on the podcast and in our Facebook post as well. So that information is more readily available for you to have to go find out, you know, what's out there for your students if you're an ag teacher or your kids or listening.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

I would add in there with FFA. FFA has a curriculum-based program for turf grass. At the the GCSAA conference, which is the golf course superintendents of America, is the the yearly conference is in two weeks, and they are actually having a turf grass competition that is solely for FFA students.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

That is awesome. I did not know that was happening. That is really awesome.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

Yes, I know our school, your sister's the egg teacher. I know her and I have been going back and forth, and I made one phone call to a superintendent there right down the road from the high school and said, Hey, I need your help. I need you to let these kids come out. I need you to show them this. Here's the curriculum for the competition. Can and he reached out the next day to to the to the teacher and it's going to work that out. And then I'm going to do a Zoom call with the kids and kind of walk through some stuff. But all the resources are there for any ag teacher that wants to look into this. Um I think if you look at the ag classes now, it's it's so hard for a kid to go out and become a farmer, right? Like, I mean, if your family doesn't, if you're if you're not a generational farmer family and you do not have like endless money and a whole lot of grit to be a farmer, this is the next best thing because of the amount of opportunity that is out there.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

And Snea, like we've talked about before, it's so great for the state of Florida, and it's so wonderful to see folks in the industry so willing to help out and perhaps build their future employees at that golf course, perhaps, or you know, so putting that time and energy into them to perhaps build their next generation of leadership or employees. Um now we're we're running out of time here, but I want to ask you before we kind of get to the end here, um, is there anything else that you want to share with our listeners about any topic?

SPEAKER_00 46:48

I don't, I don't, right, right off the top of my head, I do not. I just my pat my passion, I love my job, right? I've I've it's it's provided for me and I love it, and I can see myself doing it until I I you know I can't physically do it anymore. But even then, like there's something about helping people, right? There's there's there's a there's you you know you can be successful in your job and you can make all the money in the world and do all the different things, but at the end of the day, when you put your time and effort into someone and you help them and you do it in a way that like sets sets you apart from other people that have been in their lives, like it it the feeling you get from that is overwhelming. And I I see myself like if I had it up to me, like I'd get to where I had both these companies, and I spent 25% of my time in these two companies and 75% of my time trying to help kids, like give it back to the industry as a whole and try to fix the labor problem. I mean it it's it's a it's an issue, it's a it's a massive issue. And we didn't touch on H2B and H2A, and I know there's a lot of feelings on that, you know, nationally on what people think of that. But if if you want to, if you want to we have we have to find labor somewhere. So if you're a person that has a problem with H2H, H2A and H2B, what are you doing to fix it? Like, are you are you mentoring in your profession? Are you trying to engage with students and give them an option or show them a path? Like, I think at the end of the day, you just have to ask yourself, what are you doing to help make the world a better place?

SPEAKER_01 48:38

And the the H2A and H2B for our listeners, H2A is the ag um labor program where we it's a visa program where we bring in workers from other countries, and H2B is the non-ag side of that, which does include a lot of turf grass jobs, also hotel construction um and other non-ag jobs. And they're great, but H2B has a lot of limitations, like caps. So to your point, we have to be out there promoting this next generation. And I personally am very grateful for all that you're doing in the industry, um, that all that you're doing for the high school students. And I know that my sister is very grateful for what you're doing to help her program as well.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

Now we're gonna end with some personal questions because I like to always end podcasts with a few personal questions. If you actually have any free time outside of your work and mentoring, what do you like to do for fun outside of work?

SPEAKER_00 49:38

Well, it's funny you say that because I feel like you know, a lot of people will say, Man, you do all this stuff. How do you have any time? I feel like I have so much free time. Like I think it's just because when I get the time, I I really try to utilize it and spend it with my family. I have a 15-year-old daughter that is very active in sports, and she keeps us on our feet with everything that she does. And then I have a 10-year-old son who's the same way, and being that he's a boy, he actually really keeps us on our feet. So the majority of my time away from work is spent with my family. Um, I have a brother that lives in Orlando, and I have a brother that lives in Atlanta that we spend uh quite a bit of time with throughout the year, not as much as I think we would all like, but we just I really focus on spending spending a lot of time with my family. Uh, we love going to the beaches, that's probably our favorite trip. Uh every year we go over to the Florida Panhandle and spend a week at the beach and go out on a boat, and that's that's pretty much what we do.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

The Panhandle beaches, in my opinion, are the best beaches in Florida. We are big fans of Indian Pass, but it all of them up there, but those are the best beaches in Florida. Now, next question: how hard were you cheering against Miami in the national championship game earlier this week?

SPEAKER_00 51:04

Uh I wasn't cheering against them. I was probably I was a little conflicted. Um I follow football, my son loves football. You know, obviously Tallahassee, I'm a Florida State fan, and it's hard to root, you know, for Miami, but something about them being from the state of Florida, you know, I was kind of I would probably say I was 50-50 on that. I was it it really didn't matter to me who won, but you know, it it was nice to see Indiana come out there. The uh story about the young man, the quarterback for there. I kind of had followed up and read an article about everything that he's been through and that he's going through with his mom. That was uh that was pretty interesting, and I'm you know I'm happy for him and his family that it came out that way.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

He seems like a really good kid. You know, as a Gator fan, he seems like their version of a Tebow. So I have to like him.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

I agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Now, final question. What's your you just mentioned going to the beaches? Uh your favorite place to visit, thing to do in Florida.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

My my favorite, my favorite place to visit in Florida is the 30A stretch in the panhandle, you know, from Seaside, Grayton Beach, Blue Mountain Beach. Um I I just I really like that area. It it is not what it was four years ago. It's becoming a little overpopulated in my opinion. But that's just kind of a place that when I go there, it's like time stops and I really get to enjoy it. I'm very fortunate that we have a we have a large contract that starts down there in that 30A and works its all the way up through uh Wallham County up towards Paxton, which is just south of Alabama. And every once in a while I get to go over there and I'll be by myself, and I, you know, I have two hours and I'll go sit on the beach by myself. So it's just it's just a really special place for my family, and and that that'd be my number one place to visit.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

You know, it's funny. I feel like 15 years ago, very few people knew about 30A. It was a lot better kept secret, and I see all kinds of reels and posts all the time on Facebook now about 38, and it's kind of sad the secret's gotten out, but it's still lovely. So it doesn't get out anymore. But well, I want to thank you so much for your time. Um, this has been so great. And I will definitely put in our like our description and our posts all of this information so that our listeners can more readily access the different websites and things that we talked about. But thank you so much for all that you're doing and for coming on the podcast today.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

No problem, and I really appreciate it. I look forward to doing more of this stuff with you. And uh also feel free to put my email address on there. So if anybody has any questions or anybody wants to reach out, I I would love to help and see this kind of movement spread through the state.

SPEAKER_01 53:58

Well, thank you so much, and thank you to all of our listeners for listening to the podcast today.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

Thank you for listening to the Legal Field Podcast. For more content, please visit the Facebook page of Florida Ag Law or go to FloridaAglaw.com and join us next time on the Legal Field Podcast to see what's going on.