Overview

U.S. grain sorghum production in 2011 totaled 214 million bushels, down nearly 40 percent from 2010. The sharp decrease in production was due primarily to extreme drought conditions in the primary growing states of Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. The value of the grain sorghum crop was $1.28 billion. (NASS 2012)

Sorghum is grown in 14 states. Historically, Kansas and Texas have been the top two sorghum-producing states. In 2011, the two states retained their ranking as leading producers, harvesting 78 percent of the U.S. sorghum crop. Kansas produced 110 million bushels valued at $671 million, while Texas produced 56 million bushels valued at $331 million. Other states producing large quantities of grain sorghum include Oklahoma, Colorado, South Dakota, Louisiana and Nebraska. (NASS 2012) . . . General Sorghum

Marketing

• Crop Production Annual Summary, National Ag Statistics Service (NASS), USDA.
• Crop Values Annual Summary, NASS, USDA.
• Ethanol Industry Outlook - Renewable Fuels Association
• Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS), Foreign Ag Service (FAS), USDA.
• Grain: World Markets and Trade, FAS, USDA.
• National Sorghum Producers
• National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association - This organization provides a means of communication among sweet sorghum producers and processors concerning common interests in cane production, harvesting, transporting, crushing, processing and marketing.
• Riding Out the ‘Perfect Storm’ of 2007, Feed and Grain magazine, 2008 - This article examines the market situations of grain sorghum and wheat in 2007 and the outlook for 2008. While prices for sorghum were not as strong as wheat, its commodity value has doubled from 2005 to today.
• Sorghum, U.S. Baseline Briefing Book, Food and Ag Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri, 2011.
• Sorghum Handbook: White Sorghum, the New Food Grain, U.S. Grains Council.
• USDA Grain and Oilseed Reports - National report on weekly markets. 

Processing/Manufacturing

• The Economics of Ethanol from Sweet Sorghum Using the MixAlco Process, Agricultural and Food Policy Center, Texas A&M University, 2006 - This research report discusses the conversion of biomass to renewable fuels, more specifically, using sweet sorghum as an ethanol fuel stock.
• Ethanol in California: a Feasibility Framework, 2004 - An analysis of what it would take to develop a local ethanol supply based on food processing waste from California's multi-billion dollar agricultural industry. The study was funded by a USDA Rural Development Rural Business Enterprise Grant administered by the Great Valley Center.
• Examples of Other Sweet Sorghum Renewable Energy Projects, AgriFuelsAustralia.
• Feeding the Concrete Cow, Rural Cooperatives, Rural Development, USDA, 2009 - Dryland forage sorghum will fuel a biomass plant under construction in Leona, Texas. The Mustang Creek Biofuel Plant will be the first in the United States to use sorghum to generate a sustainable supply of electricity.
• ICRISAT sorghum for ethanol now a sweet reality, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), 2007 - Researchers at ICRISAT have developed a sweet sorghum for the production of ethanol. The new variety has a very high sugar content in its root. Average yields were considerably higher than those of sugarcane.
• Kansas Ethanol Information, Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association.
• Looking at Pinal Energy: Arizona’s First Ethanol Project, SORGHUM Grower, 2008 - Located near Phoenix, Pinal Energy produces 52 million gallons per year of ethanol from about 18 million bushels of corn and grain sorghum. This vertically integrated plant also produces 450,000 tons of wet distiller’s grain for feed.
• Potential for Sweet Sorghum Ethanol is Very Sweet, Indeed, BiobasedNews.com, 2009.
• Sorghum: A Biofuel Alternative?, Voice of America (VOA) video, YouTube, 2008 - This report features sorghum, a biofuel alternative to corn.
• Sorghum Syrup, ATTRA, NCAT, 2003 - This publication discusses some of the equipment and facilities that can be used in sorghum syrup production.
• Sweet Sorghum: A New Smart Biofuel Crop, Agriculture Business Week, 2008.
• Sweet Sorghum: A renewable energy feedstock, AgriFuelAustralia, 2008 - This slide presentation was delivered at the Bioenergy Australia 2008 Conference.
• Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association.
• Sweet Sorghum for Biofuel, Delta Research Center, University of Missouri, YouTube, 2009 - Researchers are studying ways to boost the plant's potential to create biofuel.
• Sweet Sorgum into Ethanol, University of Arizona, YouTube, 2009 - Experts at the University of Arizona are exploring ways to breed and cultivate different varieties of sweet sorghum and turn its sugar into ethanol.
• Sweet Sorghum Syrup Production, University of Kentucky, 2006 - This DVD, available for $15.00, reviews all aspects of producing a sweet sorghum crop.
• Sweet Sorghum Training Manual, FAO, United Nations, 2005 - This manual shares the results of a study in China exploring the use of sweet sorghum. One chapter discusses the liquid fermentation of sorghum stalks to produce ethanol.

Production

• Crop Profile for Oklahoma Sorghum, 2009.
• Crop Profile for Sorghum in Texas, 2008.
• Grain Sorghum Production, Chapter 10: Alternative Crops, Ohio Agronomy Guide, Ohio State University Extension, 2005.
• Growing Sweet Sorghum for Syrup, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture - Discusses the labor and processes involved.
• Sorghum, Alabama Cooperative Extension System. 

Businesses/Case Studies

• Maasdam Sorghum Mills, Lynnville, Iowa - This family business has processed sorghum since 1926. A steam engine powers the mill and augers. They can produce 600 gallons of sweet sorghum a day during September.
• Twin Valley Mills, Ruskin, Nebraska - This small mill owned and operated by three grain sorghum producers converts food-grade sorghum into grain sorghum flour.

Links checked June 2012.