Riverside Turf launches Sod Production Services

Al Hunter joins staff as director of business development

Charles City, Va.-based Riverside Turf has launched a new division of the company, Sod Production Services, and has named Al Hunter its director of business development, the company announced in a news release.

Sod Production Services was created to lead the company’s efforts to fund research for and market new turfgrass varieties, to license sod producers nationwide to grow these proprietary grasses and to offer a community approach to agronomic consulting services in the turfgrass industry, according to the news release.

Al Hunter

Hunter brings nearly a decade of turfgrass experience to Sod Production Services and will work alongside Riverside Turf’s Brian Walker. The pair have been chosen to create a new business model in the turfgrass licensing segment that focuses on a team approach to sod production, sales and distribution, with a dedication to science-based claims, customer support and agronomic consultancy, Riverside Turf says.

Wells Hula, president of Riverside Turf, says bringing in Hunter will help Sod Production Services to quickly expand and explore the company’s mission to approach turfgrass licensing and support in a new way.

“(Hunter) has spearheaded nationwide programs to successfully distribute sod through wholesale and retail outlets,” Hula says. “He understands the needs of the sod producer, and of the end-user, and is able to plan and implement programs and procedures that benefit everyone involved in the success of a turfgrass variety.”

Hunter is a graduate of the turf management program at North Carolina State University and earned an MBA in business from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has held strategic positions at Buy Sod and Scotts/Miracle Grow.