Two dozen models of Toro's new biodiesel ground-equipment will be on display at the world's largest golf show, as will Toro's new diesel-to-biodiesel conversion kits that range from about $30 to $500. The kits will hit the market in June. Toro's new turf equipment will be delivered to commercial customers in 2008, officials said.

Toro has branded the equipment "Biodiesel Ready," meaning it can run on 20 percent vegetable oil and 80 percent petroleum, a blend known as B-20. Vehicles that run solely on biodiesel fuel could be on the market as early as 2009, said Steve Wood, Toro's biodiesel project manager.

If Toro timed its market entry right, it should beat lawn-care competitors into the alternative fuel world, Wood said.

"The time is right for Toro and the industry to commit to this effort," CEO Mike Hoffman said. "Our biodiesel readiness initiative is part of a commitment to developing innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers and help to better the environment."

The Bloomington, Minn.-based manufacturer joins a growing list of vehicle makers turning to alternative fuels. Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Toyota build hybrid cars that can run on electricity, gasoline and biodiesel fuel. Arctic Cat of Thief River Falls, Minn., is building an ATV that runs on B-20. And Toro and automakers are all working on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Toro is displaying one fuel cell prototype at the golf show today in addition to its new biodiesel products.

Toro has spent about $380,000 on fuel cell research. The company's effort to go "green" began in 2002 with requests from several customers. About a dozen Toro engineers began tinkering with used vegetable oil from restaurants and virgin soybean oils before finding success with soybean blends and special filters, hoses and pumps durable enough to handle the plant-based fuel without clogging or disintegrating, Wood said.

Toro partnered with the Palm Aire Golf Course in Pompano Beach, Fla., making the course its test site while converting all of its turf maintenance equipment and testing biodiesel fuels there.

"We ran all our equipment for two years and selected certain equipment for another year and a half of testing beyond that," Wood said.

The resulting product line will be launched today before 25,000 U.S. and international golf course superintendents, owners and club managers, spokesman Branden Happel said.

Municipalities and sports field managers could become the next target market after golf courses, Wood said. Municipalities have long been interested in using alternative-fuel vehicles for groundskeeping and maintaining sports fields, he said.

Dick Hemmingsen, director of the University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, thinks Toro is making a smart move into biodiesel.

"Turf maintenance is a surprisingly huge industry in this country when you look at all sorts of turf, whether it's recreation fields or softball or soccer fields, parks, golf courses, etcetera. It's a huge market," Hemmingsen said. "Making more efficient engines for that application will make a big difference in our overall energy consumption and in our overall emissions profile."

Toro, with $1.8 billion in annual revenue, supplies equipment that maintains many NFL, baseball, and college fields and has provided Walt Disney World's turf maintenance equipment since 1998. The company also controls about 60 percent of the U.S. golf irrigation market.

Toro also announced Wednesday that it is working with New York state to test three prototype utility vehicles that are powered by hydrogen fuel cells as part of that state's commitment to use more green vehicles. New York is contributing $380,025 toward the project.

Toro will give the three vehicles to the Niagara Falls State Park Department by the middle of this year. The vehicles are designed to be nonpolluting, relatively quiet and easier to refuel than battery operated vehicles, company officials said.