By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

LUBBOCK, Texas — The first national checkoff program for the sorghum industry was announced in April, promising producers more aggressive export market development through enhanced research, information and promotion.
Conducted in February, the sorghum referendum was approved by 76 percent of producers from voting states. A decline in sorghum acreage and production over recent years led to a technology gap between sorghum and other crops, according to the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP).

The USCP will use checkoff funds to promote and research ways to improve the market position of sorghum by expanding markets, increasing demand and developing new uses for the crop, according to USCP Marketing Director Florentino Lopez.

“From a simple standpoint, the checkoff was established to help sorghum producers increase their opportunities as an industry, whether from a market and/or research standpoint or a production standpoint,” said Lopez. “The checkoff will invest funds into improving opportunities for producers throughout the country.”

Sorghum production has shifted across the United States as prices and weather conditions fluctuated throughout the years, according to Lopez, who pointed to Texas and Kansas as current leaders in sorghum production. “Other predominant states include Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Arkansas and Missouri. A variety of different states throughout the U.S. now have representation for sorghum,” he said.

The USCP is touting its new national checkoff as a catalyst for organizing better export strategies and opportunities. The referendum results were announced at the height of the European Union’s (EU) buying season.

“Since 30 to 35 percent of U.S. sorghum is exported, we feel it is important to continue to maintain a presence in (global) marketplaces, so that ground that has been previously won is not lost,” Lopez said. “At the same time, we want to continue to gain knowledge of sorghum through other countries and hopefully promote not only the current marketplaces, but future marketplaces as well.”

Lopez went on to say that sorghum exports were above average during the 2011 EU buying season.

“Spain had entered the marketplace after not making (recent) purchases. They needed to get back in the marketplace, and it so happened that they were able to acquire a large amount of sorghum. Right now, according to FAS (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service), the exports into Spain were right around 25 million bushels of sorghum,” he explained.

“There were other EU countries that made purchases, such as France, the Netherlands and Italy” which drove total exports of sorghum to the EU to nearly 30 million bushels, Lopez added. Mexico remains the largest importer of U.S. sorghum, according to the U.S. Grains Council (USGC).

The USGC, in partnership with the USCP, recently organized a trip to Spain and Portugal to meet with 12 large grain-using entities, including swine, beef and poultry producers, in order to explain the advantages of purchasing U.S. sorghum.

The trip included a visit to northwestern Spain, where importers are generally unfamiliar with sorghum. Twenty-six feed ingredient companies and buyers attended that meeting, which featured the unloading of 1.4 million bushels of U.S. sorghum at the Port of Marin.

“This is the kind of practical, hands-on work we can do to promote sorghum as the U.S. sorghum industry leader and (using) USCP funding,” stated Chris Corry, USGC senior director of international operations.

Only a few areas in the Farm World area produce sorghum, with pockets of growers located in southern Illinois (Wayne, Monroe and Jackson counties are the most notable producers, according to Illinois’ National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS) and scattered throughout the Corn Belt. Producers generally select their crops according to climate suitability and market value, though current sorghum prices could cause Corn Belt producers to consider the crop despite their area’s production history.

“It’s important for any producer to grow a crop that is most attractive for them and their particular area. Oftentimes you are in an area that receives sufficient moisture to produce corn or other grains of choice,” Lopez explained.
“Oftentimes sorghum is produced in areas with a drier climate, and maybe the land is more marginal. Sorghum has always been a fit for those areas, though it is not to say that sorghum cannot be grown in other areas.”

In fact, sorghum was grown throughout Illinois, Indiana and Iowa during the 1950s and 1960s, he said.

As of May 25, sorghum stood “even-to-over” corn in market value, according to NASS, Lopez said, with the latest Wall Street Report showing sorghum having a “slight edge” over corn prices.