Sorghum: The Afterthought Crop
When it comes to farming in the South U.S., especially in Texas, the immediate crops that come to mind are cotton and, to some extent, corn. This year during her harvest updates, Tyne Morgan highlighted an often-overlooked and less glamorized crop: sorghum.
This fuzzy-headed grass crop, which grows best in dry climates, is often passed over when the subject of southern agriculture comes up. But a lot of growers in the South rely on sorghum as a dependable dry-land plant to add into the seasonal rotation of crops.
“Sorghum is more drought-tolerant than corn and cotton, so particularly for these cotton guys down here [in Texas], it gives them a grass crop that they can afford,” T.K. Baker, Monsanto technology development representative, said. “They don’t have the water to produce the corn crop that they do up north. But they have plenty of water to produce a really nice sorghum crop, to the point that in most of the country sorghum is a dry-land crop.”
Baker said sorghum requires about half the water corn needs to produce healthy plants, and water is a precious commodity in the arid South--where water tables are steadily dropping. Cotton and sorghum growers irrigate their fields with about 300 gallons of water per minute, which Baker said isn’t anywhere near enough for corn.
“The reason sorghum is attractive to [cotton farmers] is just for natural reasons: it gives them another rotation instead of just cotton, cotton, cotton,” Baker said. “They can put another crop in their fields, a grain crop. It helps them clean their fields because they’ve got a grass; it helps them open the spectrum of herbicides they can use, provides insect control, all those things. Sorghum provides all the benefits of a grass crop in what has traditionally been a broad-leaf enterprise.”
Almost all of the sorghum grain produced in the U.S. goes toward feed for pigs and poultry, and almost all of the seed produced in the U.S. comes from a production plant in Dumas, Texas. “Ninety-plus percent of the sorghum seed produced on earth is produced right there,” Baker said. “Ours, Pioneer’s, all the little mom-and-pops’, everybody’s.”
Baker said 60 percent of the seed produced at the plant would probably go to Mexico, where sorghum is a bigger crop than in the U.S.; the other 40 percent would be marketed in the U.S.
And dry-land farmers are eager to buy up that seed (Baker said in some cases when the commodity prices are up sorghum can be more valuable than corn), which drives agricultural companies like Monsanto to produce better-quality seeds for planting. But don’t expect any biotech sorghum soon.
“There will never be a Roundup Ready® sorghum,” Baker said. “The reason being that sorghum is very closely related to Johnsongrass and shatter cane and to a lot of other weeds. So you can’t put traits in sorghum very well without them crossing to other weeds.”
Sorghum’s susceptibility to herbicides such as Roundup® and the fact that it is a crop improved only through classical breeding techniques might make it less attractive to some farmers who are used to sowing their fields with Roundup Ready® technology. It’s also hard for growers to decide whether they’re going to plant sorghum in a specific season, because a lot of the decision weighs on the price of cotton and corn, as well as the weather in the region.
“If cotton is down pricewise, sorghum is going to go up,” Baker said. “Same way up North with corn. If corn prices are up, there’s not going to be as much sorghum produced. It goes relative to the other commodities. It’s always kind of an afterthought crop for the grower.
“It’s real hard to forecast what you’re going to need next year as far as seed sales from our aspect. Corn I can pretty well go to the USDA and see what corn planting intentions are going to be, and we can determine how much corn seed we’re going to need next year. Sorghum, you never know.”
Even though sorghum might be an afterthought for growers looking for something to rotate with cotton in dry seasons, it remains a valuable commodity for many Southern farmers. Baker said Monsanto currently has more than 20 experimental varieties that are being field-tested as candidates for advancement in the next phase of research.
Monsanto currently offers just over 20 varieties of sorghum for purchase through its DeKalb® and Asgrow® brands.
Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. This product has been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Biotechnology Industry Organization. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Asgrow®, DEKALB®, Roundup®, and Roundup Ready® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. ©2009 Monsanto Company.
