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Nebraska sorghum farmer optimistic about crop growth

A Nebraska farmer says he’s considering adding more sorghum acres to his crop rotation next year.

Tyler Bose of Arcadia says its production value is hard to ignore, especially when margins are extremely tight. “Honestly, my seed cost is a big chunk of it. I can plant dry land sorghum that’s going take roughly about 68% of the water that a bushel of corn would take to grow the same bushel of sorghum, and then put it in the ground for about $19.00.”

For example, he says, “Still, even at $3 Milo, I’m still going to be able to make a profit on that. My inputs are much lower and I can still have a lot of margin of profit on it.”

Speaking with Brownfield on Monday at the Nebraska Sorghum Field Day, Bose said domestic markets are growing, which is helping offset low demand from China. “There’s ethanol plants and feedstock guys that are starting to feed it and in hog barns. There’s a lot of cool stuff coming out with that in the next couple of years, it’ll be published and talking about some health benefits of the gut.”

The USDA says U.S. sorghum acres were up 6 percent this year, with Nebraska farmers planting 255,000 acres.

Tyler Bose: