Sorghum outstanding in its field

Sorghum Outstanding in its field

 

One of the tourgoers split from his group and walked out into rows of sorghum on Darrell Bowers’ Inez farm, inspecting the plant.

 

His crisp, white button-down shirt was tucked into dress pants and stood out among the green stalks of the plants, which budded into reddish brown grain.

 

Softly in the background, the tourgoer could hear a back-and-forth in quick Mandarin, a translator trying to nail down the points of a question from one of the man’s counterparts.

 

The 11 tourgoers were visiting from China to see how one of the nation’s fastest-growing grain exports is taking root in rural areas in the Crossroads.

 

“There are a lot of customers of U.S. sorghum in China,” said Bryan Lohmar, country director for the U.S. Grains Council. “It’s a fairly new commodity. So it’s important for them to come over here and understand production, marketing and meet some of the growers.”

 

Last year, the United States exported nearly $2 billion worth of sorghum to China, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. United States sorghum is mostly used as duck and livestock feed in China.

 

The Crossroads produced about $240 million worth of the grain in that same time period.

 

Bowers grows about 5,600 pounds of sorghum on his farm, and those touring the land represented organizations that purchased about a third of United States sorghum exports last year.

 

“The yields will be better this year than last year,” Bowers said. “Last year we had way too much rain. It was pretty bad. Anywhere it had flat ground, there was way too much water last year.”

 

Sorghum, also known as milo, hasn’t always been this lucrative for exporting.

 

Three years ago, China had never imported grain sorghum from the U.S. because of its farm programs, said Wayne Cleveland, executive director of Texas Sorghum Producers.

 

China began importing because although the country was growing a lot of corn, those using it for feed couldn’t afford it.

 

“They looked to the United States and they realized that they could export grain sorghum to China for half the price for what they were paying for Chinese corn,” Cleveland said.

 

Lohmar, who lives and works in Beijing, said sorghum exports to China grew rapidly.

 

“China has become far and away the largest sorghum importer, which, when I started, wasn’t even really on the radar,” Lohmar said.

 

From the 2013-2014 marketing year to the 2014-2015 year, China’s imports of United States sorghum more than doubled, according to the USDA.

 

Once Chinese exports picked up the pace, the price and production of sorghum went up, Cleveland said.

 

“It’s since moderated a little bit, so it’s a little cheaper to buy their corn, but still sorghum is a good buy,” Cleveland said.

 

The importers touring Bowers farm grilled him with questions about the process of growing sorghum, what they can expect from production this season and what it takes to finance the farm.

 

They were taking notes and taking pictures of the crops, preparing to write extensive reports on their visit when they got back to China.

 

The next few years may not be as explosive for the sorghum industry, Lohmar said. The extensive stocks of corn in China need to be lessened, but he doesn’t think that’s the end of major imports of sorghum to the country.

 

As of May 19, China has imported more than 33 times more sorghum than corn, according to the USDA.

 

“I think there are a number of customers who are very solid customers who like using U.S. sorghum,” Lohmar said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity.”

By Taylor Tompkin

Source: Sorghum outstanding in its field – Victoria Advocate – Victoria, TX