United States: Sorghum brings economic potential to rural America

The CEO of Sorghum United says there’s tremendous potential for sorghum to have a larger economic impact in rural America. Nate Blum says the cereal grain, which is popular in India and Africa, fits well into most farming operations. “If we can locate regional value additions to food, fuel and fiber products that are using sorghum and millets, then you can, at least in one part of your cropping system, you can get that under direct contract and mitigate the commodity marketing risk in the other parts of your operation,” he says. He tells Brownfield sorghum offers traits desired by consumers, as the grain can be milled into flour and oils or used for things like cattle feed. “There’s a lot of consumers that want non-GMO and gluten free, both of which sorghum and millets are.” He says, “In addition to that, sorghum and millets are very highly nutritive.” He says the drought-resistant crop also enhances the environment. “Sorghum uses about a third of the water corn does.” He says, ...