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Turfco is a small family-owned and operated business just south of Berry in Jaspers Brush, established in 1987 by Gavin Rogers.
Some things have changed since that day in 1987: our name, our location, our size. However, Turfco has remained a Rogers family-owned & operated business, carrying the same passion, values & vision that we did on day one.
Turfco is a small family-owned and operated business just south of Berry in Jaspers Brush, established in 1987 by Gavin Rogers. Some things have changed since that day in 1987: our name, our location, our size. However, Turfco has remained a Rogers family-owned & operated business, carrying the same passion, values & vision that we did on day one.
Gavin Rogers grew up in the Kiama region, attending Kiama High School while working part-time. Lacking a love for school, at exactly age 14 & 9 months, Gavin left high school to further his career as a Butcher, taking on a local apprenticeship. Three and a half years later, Gavin was a qualified Butcher. It was at this point that Gavin craved a change. So, at age 18, he printed 2,000 brochures to launch his first business endeavour called ‘Budget Lawn Mowing’, dropping these brochures to houses around the Kiama area. Little did Gavin know at the time that he’d just taken his first step of many into the Turf industry.
Gavin was henceforth known as ‘Lawn Mower Guy.’ One of Gavin’s clients, a client which he attributes to attaining by unintentionally being the cheapest lawn mowing business, was the head of the Dept of Housing. This client called Gavin one day about an issue with a group of houses in Kiama. A contractor had been asked to spray the lawns to treat Bindi weed, but this contractor mistakenly used Round-Up, ultimately killing the lawns of six homes.
Gavin was asked to quote to dig up and replace the dead lawns of these six houses, well beyond Gavin’s scope of mowing lawns. He didn’t have a clue how to do it but wasn’t going to shy away from a challenge or pass up the business, so he offered a cheap quote to hand dig up the dead lawns and replace them with something called Turf.
He had no idea what Turf was, but Gavin’s mate told him that his uncle owned a Turf farm in Berry and that he could sell Turf to Gavin for $1.00/m2. With that information, Gavin was set. He quoted with the inclusion of installing this Turf, and Gavin won the job.
Gavin quickly learned that hand-removing six dead lawns solo was no small feat. So, he looked into hiring some machinery to speed up the process. Unable to arrange anything for hire, Gavin took out a loan to purchase an old Turf Cutter from the same uncle of his mate, in the hopes this would improve the efficiency of this project & his new business. A massive financial move for an 18-year-old new to the industry. The investment turned out to be poor, with the Turf Cutter failing during Gavin’s second Turf job after he had successfully completed his first project. Unable to fix the machine, get his money back, or pull together funds to even think about getting a second machine, Gavin hit pause for a few months.
That was until he won a promising 10,000m2 Turf job at the new Flinders Oval in Shellharbour. The only catch was that Gavin was required to have his own Backhoe Digging Machine. This was foreign to a green Gavin, so, desperate to meet the requirements of his new job, Gavin took out a second loan to purchase a second-hand machine, again, from his mate’s uncle, along with paying him for the supply of Turf for the job. In what seemed to be a series of unfortunate events, Gavin’s second-hand Backhoe Digging Machine blew up on day 2 of the Flinders Oval project. With no hope of repair & no money left, Gavin was tired of being ripped off, but he was desperate to get the Flinders Project over the line. It was at this point that Gavin decided to take matters into his own hands. He, again, borrowed a substantial sum of money and bought an old digger, an old truck & a Turf Cutter. Gavin arranged a deal with Gerringong & Jamberoo Dairy Farmers to cut Turf from their cow paddocks to then supply Turf to Flinders Oval. Along with being fed up with the local Turf Supplier, Gavin saw an opportunity in the market for Turf supply & services within the Illawarra region, so Gavin took his setbacks and was determined to turn them into a success.
On that day in 1988, a year after the mowing business launched, Budget Turf Supplies was born. Gavin moved to Berry to focus on his new & rebranded business supplying Turf. Two years down the track, Gavin changed the business name to South Coast Turf. In 1992, he reviewed it again, making the change to Classic Turf Nursery, then to The Berry Turf Co, until finally, in 1995, simplifying the company to just Turfco – and it stuck!
What started as a sole lawn mowing business quickly expanded into an impressive Turf farm & successful small business, providing quality lawn & services to the Illawarra, Shoalhaven & surrounds. Prior to this, Gavin had absolutely no Turf industry experience, but he knew he loved farming. As a teenager, Gavin spent a lot of his school holidays at his Uncle Tom’s Dairy Farm in Rose Valley, where a desire for farming was born. He knew he wanted to be a farmer but never once thought it would be Turf Farming.
When Turfco first started in 1987, Turf Farming was still a relatively new industry and was treated by the local council as quarrying, with mountains of legislation and approval processes, which at the time saw the business almost give up. However, after being successful in changing state legislation, Turfco has since pressed on to become one of the country’s most successful Turf businesses.
After Gavin Rogers moved to Berry in 1988 to officially begin his Turf supply business, he acquired Turfco’s (named Budget Turf at the time) first farm, located on Woodhill Mountain Road in Berry. This farm was obtained with the help of Gavin’s parents. Gavin’s mum and dad played a key role in the business in its early days. They were some of, if not the first, employees at Turfco. Marcus Rogers, Gavin’s eldest son, recalls seeing his grandparents at this Turfco Farm almost every day during his early childhood, particularly his grandma in the office, which at the time was a shipping container on the side of the creek. Today, in 2025, Turfco has a farm on Woodhill Mountain Road, just across the road from where it all began back in 1988.
It wasn’t until the year 2000 that Turfco purchased & moved to our current farm & office location in Jaspers Brush, officially expanding Turfco to two Turf farms in the Berry vicinity. Along with these Berry & Jaspers Brush farms, we had a farm near Shoalhaven Heads for a few years before moving on and gaining O’Keeffes Lane & Strongs Road Farms. Both farms are also located in Jaspers Brush and are still in operation at Turfco today (2025), contributing to our approximately 200 acres of Turf farm.
Gavin knew his one-man lawn mowing band wasn’t going to cut it with his rapidly growing new Turf supply business. He was going to need a few extra sets of hands. One particular staff member who was there on day one of Turfco in 1987 is still with us to this day: Gavin’s cousin, Scott Parker. This means Scott has officially been at Turfco for nearly 40 years and is our longest-standing employee. He is the backbone of this business and has played a pivotal role in its success over the years. In his 40 years, Scott has been a Turf Harvester, Truck Driver, Logistics Manager, and everything in between. But you may know Scott more for his skills with a paintbrush, as he is the talented artist behind our famous Turfco Cows! A role he has been passionately dedicated to since 2010, having painted over 200 cows that have been adored by a devoted following in our community and on social media.
Alongside Scott, in the early days, Gavin also had a few mates who were great workers: Herb, Flash, Brownie, Walters, Gonzo, Tattoo, Kiwi, Happy Dave, and Frog, just to name a few. It appears having a cool nickname was a requirement for working at Turfco back in the day!
Throughout its history, Turfco has been an industry leader. Turfco was the first Turf farm to introduce Couch, Fescue, Zoysia and Soft Leaf Buffalo Turf varieties to the region.
In 2025, we grow and sell five warm-season Turf varieties, four of which are premium: Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo, TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda, Sir Grange Zoysia, Zoysia Australis & Eureka Kikuyu. A brand-new Buffalo Turf variety is on the horizon for Turfco as a Lawn Solutions Australia Member, set to release throughout 2026: Stampede Hybrid Buffalo. The addition to Turfco will be our 6th Turf variety & 5th premium Turf variety available to our customers.
Reflecting on our infancy, we didn’t always grow the Turf varieties we grow today.
We first started growing Sir Walter in 1998 and were the 4th Turf Farm in Australia to do so.
We started growing the cool-season Turf variety, Fescue, in 1992 and did so until about 2016. We pride ourselves on “Lawns for Life” and are always looking for new and improved Turf varieties with lower input and greater sustainability. Being a cool-season Turf variety, Fescue went against all of this – it requires a lot of water, doesn’t self-repair and doesn’t last without being oversown. When Fescue didn’t survive the big drought in 2016, it was the final straw in the decision to no longer grow the Turf variety at Turfco, thus refining our range to strictly warm-season grasses.
We always grew common Kikuyu but started growing Eureka Kikuyu in 2014 when Lawn Solution Australia commenced.
We always grew Common Couch and started growing Nullarbor Couch in 2014. That was until a superior Couch variety came along, TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda, and we stopped growing Nullarbor Couch in about 2016.
We have dabbled in other Turf varieties throughout our nearly 40 years. Many years ago, we grew Shademaster Buffalo, ST 85 Buffalo, Palmetto, Emerald Zoysia, Empire Zoysia, Plateau Couch and Winter Green Couch, but we stopped when better Turf varieties came along. These years of working with various Turf varieties, accompanied by the research & development of new & emerging grasses, are rewarded by the confidence we have in the five Turf varieties we grow today in 2025. We offer a diverse range of premium, sustainable Turf varieties suitable to our region and various customer needs & applications.
In 1998, Gavin met Brent Redman, who had discovered Sir Walter two years prior. To cut a long story short they joined forces and took the grass to the Australian Market, with marketing and grower programs never seen before in Australia, all these years later Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo remains Australia’s favourite lawn with more than 130 million square meters now sold to over 1.5 million Aussie homes, making it the most successful and popular lawn variety per capita in the world.
Since our formation in 1987, Turfco has accumulated many achievements & hit a great number of milestones. This is something that Gavin fondly reflects on and serves as a humble reminder of how far the business has come since those days as the ‘Lawn Mower Guy.’
A formative milestone for the business was the first-ever Turf sale.
“My very first actual Turf sale was to Ray McMillian, (he owned the Kiama Down Grog Shop and still lives at the house today), and I brought the Turf from a cow paddock, the business itself that was selling me the Turf was run by a local group of Bikies at the time. It was a memorable day but made me realise then that I had to start cutting and growing my own Turf.” – Gavin Rogers.
Ray not only showed his support for Gavin via his first Turf sale, but Ray pushed Gavin to continue pursuing a career in the Turf Industry. Ray & his partner Robyn are still longtime friends of Gavin and the Rogers family, particularly Gavin’s mum & dad.
A second early milestone for our business was the purchase of our first-ever truck. Gavin purchased the first truck for the business in 1988 from a Dairy farm in Jamberoo. It was a red Inter 1610. Pictured below.
Turfco paved the way for the future of Turf Farming in NSW, with many firsts for the state & the industry, all of which are a result of & Gavin’s hard work & determination.
Some other great milestones Turfco has enjoyed over the years:
In 2013, Gavin Rogers played a major role in the establishment of Lawn Solutions Australia, now Australia’s largest national network of locally owned & mostly family-operated Turf businesses. Comprised of more than 50 Turf farms around Australia, Lawn Solutions Australia focuses on ensuring all its members grow Turf to a very high standard & are approved by the AusGAP – the Australian Turf Certification Program – to grow the certified grasses that LSA Members supply. Lawn Solutions Australia also focus on the marketing, research, and development of Turfgrass & Turf-related products. LSA is an industry leader with its R&D program now including over 30,000 different cultivars of Turf in the endeavour of finding a new Turf variety that has a list of benefits to the consumer, grown & sold through its members, like Turfco. This makes LSA the largest Turf grass breeder and researcher in the Southern Hemisphere.
Turfco, like all LSA members, also offers a range of Lawn Solutions Australia premium lawn care products to ensure a Turfco lawn stays in great shape year-round and is a lawn for life.
Turfco is a proud member of the Lawn Solutions Australia network and has been since the Lawn Solutions Australia network’s official establishment in 2013. As a member, Turfco has exclusive access to the newest & best Turf varieties to come out of the LSA R&D Program, meaning when you choose Turfco, you’re choosing these exclusive, premium Turf varieties backed by years of research & development. LSA also has an Australian first 10-year product warranty, further assuring their and our confidence in these Turf varieties.
The Rogers family has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in building Turfco, and this strong family presence throughout the entirety of Turfco’s existence is a credit to our many years of success.
As many would know, starting and running a small business requires a lot of sacrifice, time and dedication, particularly in the early days. Fortunately, Gavin had the support of his wife, Sue & his parents, Pat & Jim.
“As a kid, my parents had to make a massive number of sacrifices for the business, both good and bad. But having those experiences & recalling those lessons now is invaluable. As you get older, everything makes a little more sense regarding workloads and not being around much during busy times. You learn that that’s just part and parcel of Turf Farming and running a business.” – Marcus Rogers
Gavin’s three kids, Marcus, Joe & Sasha, have all worked, both officially & unofficially, at Turfco at various stages during our nearly 40 years of operation, including today.
“I think watching dad [Gavin] build & run Turfco throughout my childhood created a sense of belonging within the business. Working at Turfco or not, it has been such a big part of our [the Rogers’ family] lives.” – Marcus Rogers
Today, Turfco is led by Gavin’s eldest son, second-generation Turf farmer Marcus Rogers.
“Growing up on land was a massive privilege. We [Marcus & his siblings] got to see and be around all sorts of machinery. We were never bored! It definitely gave me a good insight into what it was like working on a farm and relying so heavily on the elements. Now, being fortunate enough to be able to provide my children with a similar upbringing to what I had is the best thing.” – Marcus Rogers
Marcus started working at Turfco at about the age of 12, on and off during the school holidays. Mostly laying Turf. When he left school at age 18, Marcus went to work at another family business for a few years before returning to the family Turf farm.
When Marcus returned to Turfco in his early twenties, he stepped into a sales role, which primarily kept him out on the road rather than working on the farm. After a few years in his sales position, Marcus transitioned into a more farm & labour-based role.
In his years at Turfco, Marcus has been a Turf Farmer, Truck Driver, Turf Installer, Turf Harvester, Sales Manager & more.
Today (in 2025), Marcus is the General Manager at Turfco and has been since 2019. Naturally, Marcus has a passion for Turf with years of experience and an abundance of industry knowledge & business understanding. He is certainly well equipped to follow in his father’s footsteps and continue the success of Turfco.
As General Manager, Marcus splits his time between managing staff, working on the farm and working inside the office. But true to his early days, Marcus is always willing to jump in a truck to deliver and lay Turf if needed.
Marcus didn’t always want to be a Turf Farmer like his dad. “As a kid, I saw firsthand how hard Turf Farming & running a business was, and how much time was involved. Most of the time, I thought that I would do something a little easier. Mum and Dad never pressured us kids into joining the Turf Farm & family business; they were happy for us to do anything career-wise. But it’s cool now that all our family is directly working on the farm in one way or another.” – Marcus Rogers
Beginning as a family business, it’s pretty special to have the Rogers’ continue the family legacy by maintaining such a vital role within the business to this day. And with many little Rogers’ running around, this legacy will continue for generations to come.
“Carrying on the family tradition and legacy is huge. Even more so when you have your own children. Setting examples and planning for the future is always on your mind, so keeping Turfco at the forefront in our industry and the local area is key to continued success now and into the future.” – Marcus Rogers
Being a family business at its roots, we pride ourselves on treating each and every staff member as our extended family. We believe that it’s this philosophy that has led us to many long-serving, loyal employees. In fact, more than a third of the staff at Turfco joined the business over ten years ago, with retirement being the main cause of most staff leaving the farm.
“You spend so much of your life at work; if you can make it a nice environment to be in, you hope that people will stick around a bit longer.” – Marcus Rogers
Fostering this culture creates an enjoyable & productive workplace for our team, and we recognise the implication of a positive working environment on our customers and the service we provide. Our customers can see our level of care, passion and appreciation for each other & what we do, which builds trust in our brand. Being a trusted business is essential to our customer rapport as it establishes a reliable destination for lifelong advice & assistance on their lawn.
At Turfco, we constantly have our sights set on the future. Prioritising the improvement of our processes for the efficiency & betterment of our business, ultimately, to provide the best possible service & products for our customers. Today, technology is a long way from where it was when we first established in the late 80s.
When Turfco commenced, all Turf was harvested using walk-behind harvesters, with Turf being hand rolled on the ground, then manually loaded and then unloaded onto trucks. In 1993, Turfco imported the first automatic harvester from the USA, and today, all Turf is harvested automatically by machines that use a conveyor belt. The Turf is quality checked on the belt and placed on pallets and forklift-loaded onto trucks.
In 2024, we purchased a FireFly Automatix ProSlab 160 Turf Harvester. This machine harvests Turf in slabs, a change from our 9 years prior of harvesting Turf in rolls with Brouwer Kesmac Robomax, also an automated Turf Harvester. However, throughout our nearly 40 years, we have actually harvested Turf in slabs longer than we have in rolls.
Back in the day, like a lot of things, Turf harvesting was a lot less automated, with 3 people required during the process. In the years since Turf harvesting technology has greatly advanced, and the FireFly Automatix ProSlab Turf Harvester is a product of this evolution. Now, only 1 person is required for the process. The FireFly machine offers a 360-degree view from a comfortable cab, an inbuilt pallet weighing system, Autosteer, Ergonomic Controls, 4WD with traction control, and so much more. As a result, Turf harvesting is no longer the back-breaking job it once was.
Further to this, we now have GPS and automated technology in our fleet of John Deere Tractors, which is particularly useful when mowing. The GPS technology offers a high level of precision with less overlap & room for error in our mowing margins. This is accompanied by our new Trimax Pegasus S5 Mower, which offers in-cab height adjustment & an on-command deck lift. Not only does this technology offer great benefits to our farm & its efficiency, but it ultimately contributes to a higher-quality product for our customers. This technology will continue to build in coming years as we look to fully automate some of our farm processes, meaning you will see our green tractors working on the farm without anyone in the seat!
In an effort to continue our journey toward full autonomy & increasing productivity, soon, you will see tractors driving themselves as you travel past Turfco with a unit expected to arrive at Turfco in October 2025. The advanced mowing system is a technology that will be installed on our existing John Deere Tractor, transforming it to operate autonomously. This means that mundane work is done without the need to sit in the driver’s seat, allowing our highly skilled & trained workers to devote their time to more complex tasks.
Proudly, Turfco will be the first turf farm in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere to have a working driverless tractor.
It’s not just on the farm where we have advanced our processes. Today (2025) at Turfco, we operate on advanced & paperless systems that offer real-time communications between orders and harvesting. Increasing employee satisfaction was an overarching goal in this advancement, but certainly a secondary intention was our customers: to offer a better experience, product and service.
Our internal progressions have drastically improved the productivity, efficiency & accuracy of our daily processes, eliminating monotonous & dated work and unnecessary headaches for our team, which has streamlined our business like never seen before.
Our advances have carried right through to the delivery of our products, with our customers receiving regular information on their order & delivery updates via email communications. As well as a text message with a GPS tracking link sent on the day of delivery so our customers can see exactly when their new lawn is going to arrive.
We are industry leaders in our systems & communications, and we will continue to be by constantly striving to be the best business for our employees and customers.
In 2024, after over 12 months of behind-the-scenes work, we officially launched our new website. The Turfco website is a 24/7, one-stop destination for instant Turf quotes, immediate next-available delivery information, ordering Turf, lawn care products for delivery, lawn care advice, and so much more.
We are the only Turf Farm in Australia that offers a live calendar that can be viewed anywhere, anytime, showing our next available delivery dates for any location.
Our Quick Turf Quote Tool provides our customers with certainty and clarity by allowing them to generate Turf quotes in seconds. For their chosen Turf variety, square metres, location, and addition of installation, our customers can instantly see the cost breakdown & next available delivery date.
Our top priority when developing our new website was our customers. We worked hard to ensure a seamless & clear browsing experience so our customers can find what they’re looking for with ease, taking the guesswork out of planning, choosing & buying a new lawn, lawn care & everything in between.
In the interest of reaching full autonomy, in more recent years, we have expanded our services to include lawn maintenance tools such as Robotic Lawn Mowers. We offer a range of wireless Robotic Lawn Mowers simply controlled by satellites and an app on your smartphone, taking the hassle, noise & work out of owning a lawn, and allowing Turfco to supply, lay and mow your Turf!
Purchasing, owning & maintaining a lawn has never been so easy!
Today, nearly 40 years since our establishment, our team still includes members of our founding family but has expanded to make up the great group of 17 employees we have today!
In 2025, Turfco is made up of approximately 200 acres of farm spread across three local Turf farms, growing five warm-season Turf varieties, four of which are premium. Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo, TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda, Sir Grange Zoysia, Zoysia Australis & Eureka Kikuyu. With exciting plans to expand beyond our current three farms within the Berry region over the next 12 months and release a 5th premium Turf variety, Turfco continues to evolve and set its sights on an even better & brighter future.
As a small business in a small town, we are fortunate to have the support of our tight-knit & adoring community. In our years of business, we have sought to give back to charities & the community that has supported us for nearly 40 years in any small way we can. Throughout the years and to this day, Turfco supports the Berry-Shoalhaven Heads Magpies RLFC, Bomaderry Tigers AFL, Berry RSL, WIRES, Nowra Show Society, Bravehearts, Berry Gardens Club, Pink Up Berry, Mudgeroo Emu Farm & Animal Refuge, Junior Sport, Local Surf Clubs, Cancer Council, Local Fox Prevention Programs, Veterans Mental Health, Berry Rotary, Shoalhaven Vietnam Veterans Association, and many more.
Turfco intends to be taking care of the community in the Shoalhaven, Illawarra, South Coast, Southern Highlands & more for another 40 years & beyond. Carrying Gavin’s day one vision and ideology close, we will continue to lead the way in the industry using the latest technology, equipment and knowledge, combined with the highest level of service & a top-quality product.
Did you know that we have a turf display area here at our farm? Visit our office location in Jaspers Brush to see, feel and compare our premium turf varieties before you make the purchase!
Buying a lawn is a big decision, and we want to make sure you’re confident in your choice. Choosing the right grass for your home can seem overwhelming with the different varieties that are available. At Turfco we have a lawn that’s right for you.
AusGAP – the Australian Turf Certification Program – has been created for the country’s leading turfgrass producers to provide consumers with assurance that their turf adheres to a stringent set of quality standards.The AusGAP certification system not only ensures the genetic purity of a turfgrass variety where appropriate; it provides assurance that the entire production, delivery, and installation process is undertaken to the highest industry standards.AusGAP is your assurance that the turf delivered to site has been grown to the highest possible quality standards. AusGAP is Australia’s leading turf-quality certification program that has been adopted by the best turf producers in Australia.
