World Feeder Bermuda Grass: Academic Reviews

World Feeder has historically struggled with "fitting in" with the academic community. First, in our opinion, this is because most university agronomists spend their entire careers trying to develop a grass that will do half of what we believe World Feeder is capable. Secondly, we were blessed to simply discover it, as opposed to creating it over many years of experimentation and crossbreeding of cultivars.

The most compelling discovery of all concerning World Feeder Bermuda Grass was when Oklahoma State University’s School of Agronomic Sciences & Natural Resources proved conclusively that World Feeder is the most cold-tolerant, winter-hardy strain of Bermuda in existence. According to the testimony of World Feeder owner Carol W. Gordon, this is what happened:

"In 1989, before World Feeder was commercially available, we submitted it to a comparison test being conducted by OSU among various strains of Bermuda grass. There were more than 30 strains in the test. During that winter, we had a severe cold front that stayed for over two weeks. There were days with down to minus 40 degrees (F) wind-chill factor. Since Bermuda is primarily a southern-climate, warm season grass not known for its cold tolerance, every test plot died, as expected, except World Feeder. It did not even suffer any winterkill at all in that test plot. Needless to say, everyone was amazed. We then worked with OSU to get a $200,000 Federal grant to further study this astonishing finding. However, they issued a report that stated that according to their research, World Feeder was just average, which was very disappointing to us. Since OSU is in the business of developing new Bermuda grasses, and we were seen as 'the competition,' we decided to disconnect from them and pursue our own direction in developing the grass."

The following table gives an overview of our other various interactions with agronomists at major universities. As can be seen, many opportunities were missed due to lack of follow-through on getting results that were scientifically documented and useful to both the farming and academic communities. We plan to improve in this area significantly in the years to come as we seek to invest in our R&D function.

Probably the most significant academic achievement in the 25-year history of World Feeder Bermuda Grass was the receipt of a letter of support from Oklahoma State University.

If you are an academic interested in conducting a trial with World Feeder, please refer to the form that describes our policies and procedures:

Downloadable PDF Form: Agreement to Perform University or Testing Station Trial for World Feeder Bermuda Grass