Despite there being a lot more hope for rain in the 2023 growing season, the drought that has struck a good portion of North America for the past few years is still very fresh in many farmers’ minds.
With that, many farmers are wondering what options are out there to add to the rotation that can maybe handle a little less rain than other crops.
This is why Alta Seeds was spreading the message of growing sorghum at Commodity Classic last month at Orlando, Florida.
Rusty Bevel, of UPL, says some of those really dry, more arid environments are where sorghum really does best.
“With our breeding locations all around the world, we bring in the genetics from Australia for drought tolerance, Argentina for disease resistance, and then bring the to the U.S. and add yield,” he explains. “So our products really produce ourselves in being. very agronomically sound, they take about 40-60 per cent less water than corn does, and about half the nitrogen.”
Sorghum of course can be grown either for grain or forage, but as Bevel explains, it really can be positive crop to rotate in on either side, agronomically.
“As far as forages go, we have single cut silage forages that are a good replacement for your corn stage. We have multi-cut hybrid sorghum Sudan grasses that do a really good job if you’re going to mill, graze, or do any of that with your cattle operation in a dry environment,” he notes.
Check out the full conversation between Bevel and RealAgriculture’s Kara Oosterhuis, below:
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | All Podcasts