Kansas Turf levels the field

Grass has always seemed to play a part in Jake Farrant’s life.

His family has spent decades in the golf course construction and sod business. His uncle, Rick Farrant, founder and principal of GreatLIFE Golf and Fitness, has accumulated more than 20 courses in the Kansas City metro.

As a kid in Meriden, Jake grew up mowing lawns and working alongside Rick on the golf course. Following college, he returned to Meriden to work with his family.

So when an opportunity to build a multi-sports complex presented itself a few years later, he jumped at the chance. And that was when Kansas Turf was born.

“I was more interested in small projects – high-school football, baseball, softball fields,” he said.

Business steadily picked up, but it wasn’t until he hired his former football coach, Patrick Ross, that it took off. Ross served three years as defensive coordinator for Kansas Wesleyan University before accepting the head coaching position at Ottawa University. Ross coached Jake there, before leaving to take the head coaching position at Lindenwood University, a NCAA Division-II school.

“He had the contacts,” Jake said. “And we jumped into the turf side, and it grew from there. Within six months, we were doing college fields.”

Today, Kansas Turf has expanded its services, offering site construction, soil renovation, cemetery turf renovation, laser leveling, top dressing and natural sod installation and removal. Last year, the company was selected to replace the field at Kansas State University’s Bill Snyder Family Stadium, where the company partnered with AstroTurf, a leader in manufactured turf. The artificial turf is made with a new fiber blend that is not only more durable, but less abrasive.

The field design is similar to the previous field, including the Wildcat logo at mid-field and the university’s traditional Royal Purple color in the end zone. A new feature includes the addition of Big 12 logos on each side of the field.

For Jake, the opportunity was huge.

“That was big for us,” he said.

What separates KansasTurf from others in the industry is relationships and customer service, Farrant said. “What makes us different is that the same guys who are giving a presentation in front of a school board are the same guys running the dozers. They’re the same guys who come back to do maintenance. That’s what gives us an advantage – we’re giving a greater level of comfort. I think it’s something different for schools – there’s a different type of comfort level there.”

Jake, who served as an assistant coach at Jefferson West, along with his brother, Bryce Farrant, and his former coach, Ross, noticed the school’s grass football field was in bad shape.

“When Jake started talking to me about artificial turf for the school, I thought, ‘Oh my, we just don’t have that kind of budget,’” Superintendent Pat Happer said. “But Jake suggested that the school allocate to this project the same amount of money that was already going to be spent on the natural grass field, and he would work on private funding for the rest.”

The school board considered the idea, hosted an open forum to gather community input, and decided to proceed with the project. But while officials were still trying to iron out the details, Jake’s company was replacing turf for the New Orleans Saints.

“I asked what they were going to do with the old turf, which was only a year old, and they said, ‘Oh, just store it somewhere,’” Farrant said. Because the Mercedes-Benz Superdome installs a new artificial grass surface each year, each field is only used for eight regular NFL season games and two NCAA bowl games.

Eventually, it would take 28 tractor-trailers to transport the turf back to Meriden. 

Once crews are in full-conversion mode, it takes about six weeks for the new turf to be installed, he said.

In most cases, Farrant said, school districts reach out to his company to learn more about artificial turf. But the situation often changes once officials have the information.

“When we start the presentation, districts are just looking for information,” he said. “But it soon goes from doing something the following year to looking at the ability to put it in now. They’re blown away with the info.” While the expense of adding artificial turf can be an obstacle, Jake said his company is there to help.

“What we’ve done, and what we’ve been having the most success with is not getting a bond issue and spending taxpayer money,” he said. “We come in and make a presentation. We get the facts out there. We also show people that instead of it being just a varsity field, it’s a community field.

“We’ve developed a creative marketing plan by helping the community raise money. We also get involved. We make it very affordable by helping finance. We’re just flattered to be bringing high-quality turf to these small towns.”

Currently, Kansas Turf is working with more than 13 school districts in either active projects or through fundraising. Check out this video of Kansas Turf starting work at Louisburg.

While the turf isn’t maintenance-free, it only usually requires using a groomer every few weeks. The turf is warrantied for eight years Even if there’s a soaking rain, he said, the water drains off.

Other advantages include consistent playability. “We’re a family-owned and operated business,” Jake said. “That’s important. 

We’re working in nine states right now, but our heart and passion is in Kansas. That’s where we want to be. We have the experience, and have earned the trust of the NFL and the NCAA, but there’s nothing we celebrate more than working with a Kansas school.”

Some information for this story was provided by Kansas State University. Jennifer McDaniel is a freelance writer from Paola, Kan., who has covered a wide range of topics over a 20 year career in journalism.

Kansas Turf completes BFSB replacement

For brothers Jake and Bryce Farrant, owners of Kansas Turf, a turf replacement and installation company based in Meriden, Kan., it was a dream come true - the replacement of the turf at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, a place they had visited many times as kids and college students. The project was completed in 2018.

“We were thrilled to be chosen as the turf replacement contractor for Bill Snyder Family Stadium,” Kansas Turf CEO Jake Farrant said. “We have a lifelong connection to that place, and as a locally owned, Kansas based company, we couldn’t be more proud to finish this worthwhile project.”

The Kansas Turf Facebook page tracked the company’s progress on “The Bill,” as it's affectionately referred to by fans of Kansas State football, from turf removal, to turf installation, to the “cutting in” of hashmarks, media lines, numbers and finally, the iconic Powercats.

Kansas Turf was proud to partner with AstroTurf on the BSFS project. The inventor of synthetic turf, AstroTurf is one of the most recognized brands in American sports. Since 1965, the AstroTurf brand has been driven by forward thinking ingenuity. Today AstroTurf continuously improves its system design to deliver playing surfaces with the most realistic, sport-specific performance, longest lasting durability, and sound player protection. Kansas State is the first FBS program in the country to install the latest artificial turf innovation from AstroTurf - RootZone Trionic 3D.

“Kansas Turf has completed many jobs for AstroTurf in the past and are eager to continue building the relationship,” Farrant said.

Kansas State University Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeremy Neiderwerder said he enjoyed working with Kansas Turf on the installation. “Kansas Turf has been a great partner through the entire process of replacing the surface at Bill Snyder Family Stadium,” Niederwerder said. “They remained ahead of schedule throughout the entire installation process and have provided us with a surface that will greatly enhance our student-athlete performance on the field as well as the viewing experience for our fans and television viewers across the country.”

And the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium was just one of the more publicized projects for the northeast Kansas company that also does traditional natural sod installation and cemetery turf renovation.

“We streamline all of our removal and install processes by having state of the art equipment and high character employees that have a passion for what they do and take great pride in their work,” Farrant said.

Other noteworthy projects include the Bettis Family Sports Complex north of Lake Shawnee in Topeka, Kan., Northern State University’s Swisher Field in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the Jefferson West High School football field, where turf was removed from the Superdome in New Orleans and installed on the Jeff West field in Meriden.

“We are a big enough company to complete any job, but are small enough to take care of our customers the way they should be treated,” Farrant said. “The people you call for a bid will be the people on the job getting their hands dirty, and those same people will be available for years to come for maintenance calls and questions or new projects.”

Kansas Turf has completed over 20 fields in the last 18 months, and hopes to continue its expansion, Farrant says, noting that their prices are often lower than many of their larger competitors.

To follow Kansas Turf’s progress on any of their other turf installation projects visit their Facebook page or find them on Twitter. For more information, visit their website at www.kansasturf.com, or call Kansas Turf at 785-400-6136.

Kansas Pregame covers high school sports in the Sunflower State. Know of a great story that needs to be told? We want to hear from you! Email us the next great story or video focused on Kansas high school sports at kansaspregame@gmail.com.