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How The Us Lawncare Industry Turned Dirt Into Gold

No, lawns weren’t invented by your dad to build character. But the modern American lawn isn’t as natural as its bright green hue insists. The upkeep of genetically engineered grass that lines residential streets today (at a height between 2.5 and 3 inches, ideally) has created a $153 billion market and an industry that employs over 1 million people. And it’s all because we wanted to show off how little we needed to grow crops.

For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, maintained lawns were primarily a wealthy European thing. It wasn’t until about the 1870s that suburbs started popping up, and lawns could be a wealthy American thing. In the same decade, inventions like an easier-to-use push lawnmower, sprinkler systems, and even color printing (which resulted in lush ads for lawn care products) helped popularize the amenity. And the 1900s were an epic time for yards:

O.M. Scott & Sons (which would eventually become Scotts Miracle-Gro) started selling lawn grass seed by mail in 1907. By 1930, the company hit $1 million in sales after introducing the first-ever grass fertilizer.
Around the 1920s, the USDA started working with the US Golf Association to breed hardier grass for courses, and it crept into American lawns.
In the 1940s, the GI Bill gave veterans returning from WWII access to cheap home loans…and a chance to revel in all the yard science of the last century.

And now? Lawns in the US cover almost half the amount of land that national parks do. They also represent a significant amount of a homeowner’s budget: On average, millennials spend $701 per month on lawn care, and boomers shell out about $475 monthly, according to a recent Tractor Supply Co. survey.—MM

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How The Us Lawncare Industry Turned Dirt Into Gold

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