This article is published as part of America’s Conservation Ag Movement, which supports farmers and ranchers in building profitable, resilient futures for their operations.
Grain farmers are facing uphill challenges from all sides. Every day they battle economic uncertainty, rising costs and weather pressures, prompting some to search for diversification opportunities at the farm gate.
As farmers think outside the box, United Sorghum Checkoff Program is urging them to give sorghum a shot.
The Resource Conserving Crop
The organization has gone so far as to officially trademark sorghum as “The Resource Conserving Crop,” highlighting the heritage crop’s ability to weather droughts and sustain people and livestock.
“With deep roots that anchor the land, sorghum reflects the enduring values of American farmers: strength, hard work and self-reliance,” says Norma Ritz Johnson, executive director. “From feeding draft animals of the past to advancing food security and resource-smart farming today, sorghum remains a vital part of agriculture’s future.”
Ritz Johnson highlights these two benefits as sorghum’s foundation for resource conservation:
1. Sorghum thrives with one-third less water.
According to the Checkoff, sorghum can grow with less water use than comparable grains and it can endure extreme heat, giving it an economic advantage both in areas facing mounting weather pressures and in regions where other crops simply cannot be productive.
“Water scarcity is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture today, and it’s where sorghum shines brightest,” Ritz Johnson says. “Its natural drought tolerance and efficient water use are unmatched, enabling it to produce high yields with significantly less water than other grains.”
The Checkoff notes, according to studies, 91% of sorghum acres are rain-fed, resulting in 1.5 trillion gallons of irrigation water savings per year.
2. Sorghum is a workhorse of sustainability.
Ritz Johnson says sorghum delivers value to farmers through reduced input needs and greater stability. Of note, the Checkoff highlights low seed costs ($6 - $19 per acre depending on seeding rate and seed treatments) as a standout economic benefit of crop adoption.
Interestingly, the sorghum moniker seems to extend beyond the crop and its conservation attributes and into the farmers who grow it and the agronomic practices they use to do so. The Checkoff has polled its producers and found they are adopting conservation practices, like conservation tillage, at a higher rate than their counterparts.
“Sorghum farmers are natural conservationists because they have to be,” Ritz Johnson says. “In many regions where sorghum is grown, resource constraints — especially water — make conservation tillage not just a choice but a necessity. Farmers understand that by leaving crop residues on the surface, they can protect their soils, retain moisture and reduce the need for inputs like herbicides and fertilizers.”
Ritz Johnson says the conservation leading edge doesn’t end with tillage practices, noting sorghum producers are using precision irrigation techniques like drip and pivot irrigation to optimize water use, cover crops to protect soils and creative crop rotation systems to enhance soil moisture retention and reduce evaporation. That intense water management can add up to a recipe for success even in the driest growing seasons.
In all, for United Sorghum Checkoff Program, this presents an opportunity for sorghum as a crop and sorghum producers to step into a gap that is widening for an ever-evolving production agriculture system in the U.S.
“What’s impressive is how seamlessly sorghum aligns with broader conservation agriculture goals,” Ritz Johnson says. “U.S. sorghum farmers are leading the way in proving that profitability and stewardship can go hand-in-hand, many of which are motivated by the long-term benefits: healthier soils, reduced input costs and greater strength in the face of extreme weather.
“As conservation programs and incentives here and abroad expand, sorghum farmers are well-positioned to lead the charge in sustainable production,” she adds.
Expanding Opportunity
Ritz Johnson now leads an organization that is tasked with ensuring this position for sorghum growers is not squandered. To accomplish that, they are tackling downstream demand by engaging with consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies who are targeting sustainability in their supply chains.
“Sorghum offers them a natural, proven way to advance those goals — and we’re working hard to help them see the opportunity,” she says.
That vision has USCP doubling down on farm-level data as a means to more fully tell sorghum’s sustainability story, specifically with companies who are looking to meet rigorous industry or organization goals.
They are also expanding conversations beyond traditional markets, Ritz Johnson says, to include gluten-free and ancient grain-based foods as well as exploring alternative sectors such as pet foods and biofuels.
Courting the Consumer
In the vein of direct-to-consumer marketing that other agriculture sectors have pioneered, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program is eyeing opportunities to market the crop to consumers as well as CPGs.
Using targeted outreach through influencers, social media and education, specifically in the food space, the organization is sharing what they believe is a “clear and compelling” message on product labels and in conversations with major food brands.
“Consumer awareness is the engine that drives demand for sustainable products, and we’re seeing a growing interest in crops like sorghum that offer real natural resource benefits,” Ritz Johnson says. “The challenge — and the opportunity — is to make sure consumers understand why sorghum stands out.”
“Ultimately, the more consumers recognize the value of sorghum, the more demand we’ll create — not just for the crop itself but for the sustainable practices that farmers are using to grow it.”
America’s Conservation Ag Movement is a public/private collaborative that meets growers across the country where they are on their conservation journey and empowers their next step with technical assistance from USDA-NRCS and innovation solutions and resources from agriculture’s leading providers. Learn more at americasconservationagmovement.com.
