Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo grass is a variety of what is known in Australia as Soft Leaf Buffalo grass or St Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum Secundatum).
Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo grass is a Buffalo grass that was selected and developed in the Hunter region of the NSW Coastline nearly 20 years ago and is favoured by designers, landscapers and homeowners alike for its unique attributes that make it a stand-out buffalo lawn when compared to many other common buffalo lawn types.
Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo grass is undoubtedly the most successful commercial turf-grass variety in Australia. Over 60 Million square metres of Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo grass has been sold over this time to feature as lawns in around half a million Australian homes.
Such success with the grass-type’s popularity, however has unfortunately come with some unintended consequences. There has been ongoing attempts over the years by some elements in the industry trying to copy, pass-off and blatantly deceive prospective lawn purchasers of Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo lawn with imitations, substitutions or knock-offs of the genuine Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo grass variety.
There have been many hundreds of PBR breach notices issued over the years to such dodgy operators with one even charged in the NSW Supreme Court with fair trading breaches that related to substituting Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo grass with non-genuine Soft Leaf Buffalo grass and even Kikuyu grass types.
With the introduction of the new Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA) national growers’ group and Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo grass coming under the management of this group there has been further scientific and breeding development work around the country to ensure the genetic integrity of this turf variety being offered to the Australian market moving forward.
Sports Turf Research Institute was recently commissioned by LSA to carry out DNA testing on LSA member’s Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo grass with tests coming back that indicate all LSA Member Growers’ Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo grass matches DNA testing of 15 years ago and can be can be properly called ‘true-to-type Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo grass’ or what has been newly trademarked by the Lawn Solutions Group as ‘Sir Walter DNA Certified’ Soft Leaf Buffalo grass.
Other strict growing and quality assurance protocols have also been introduced to the Lawn Solutions Australia group to further ensure the quality and integrity of Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo grass is maintained through to the end-user.
The newly introduced independent Australian Genetic Assurance Program (AusGAP) turf accreditation and certification process has been adopted by Lawn Solutions Australia and is being currently rolled out to all members with full certification anticipated for all growers by mid-2017.
AusGAP covers not just the genetic integrity of Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo turf-type but also the whole gamut of turf production and business operations for certified growers.
This process aims to achieve an added level of protection help assure that all turf varieties produced under the Lawn Solutions Australia banner meet the strict AusGAP accreditation protocols and ultimately ensure that the customer and end-user gets the lawn they were originally after, including Lawn Solutions Australia’s 10-year-product warranty.
Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo grass is still the number one selling buffalo variety in Australia and the added level of both DNA and quality assurance provided to the customer through AusGAP certification ensures the ongoing integrity of Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo grass purchased through a Lawn Solutions Australia member grower or licensed reseller.
