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Don’t expect a major shift to sorghum acres this year even with drought

The chairmen of the National Sorghum Growers Association says he doesn’t expect a significant shift in sorghum due to drought.

Kansas farmer Craig Meeker says the crop can be drought tolerant, but planting conditions in some areas of the Great Plains are dire. “In some places where there is still some potential fore moisture, I think there will be some acreage shift to sorghum. There are a lot of acres that are just pretty bleak.  If it doesn’t rain a lot, they don’t have any way to go right now.”

But, Meeker tells Brownfield, there could be an opportunity to grow more sorghum for forage. “A really quick way to bring up the hay stocks supply is through sorghum.  If we get a little rain, we can get a lot of tons. Hopefully if we get a little bit of rain, we can restock the hay supply as well.”

 The USDA is projecting few sorghum acres in 2023 with a 6 percent drop from the previous year at 6 million across.  Kansas is expected to drop 5 percent, Nebraska 19 percent and South Dakota 9 percent.