2022/23 U.S. Sorghum Crop: Highest Quality, According To New USGC Report

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) released its 2022/23 Sorghum Quality Report today and for the fourth year in a row, U.S. sorghum was, on average, graded above the necessary requirements for U.S. No. 1 certification.

“This detailed data provides in-depth information about the U.S. sorghum crop and better equips buyers around the world by showing them trends in sorghum crops year over year,” said USGC Chairman Josh Miller. “We hope this year’s report helps give our valued trade partners even more confidence in the continued reliability and quality of U.S. sorghum.”

The report, funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service Agricultural Trade Promotion (USDA-FAS) program and the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP), provides international customers and other interested parties accurate, unbiased information about the 2022/23 U.S. sorghum crop.

To generate the report’s findings, a total of 97 samples were collected from 15 participating elevators and one participating farmer in the central and southern regions of the U.S., which represents nearly 100 percent of all U.S. sorghum exports, between Aug. 9, 2022, and Mar. 8, 2023.

The samples were analyzed by the Amarillo Grain Exchange and the Cereal Quality Lab at Texas A&M University, where scientists calculated averages and standard deviations for each quality factor tested and reported results for the U.S. aggregate.

Total sorghum damage came in at 0.0 percent in the aggregate, and broken kernel and foreign material (BCFM) was only 1.4 percent, lower than last year’s results, highlighting the grain’s hardness and how well it survives handling and storage.

Additionally, tannins were absent from the sorghum samples for the fourth year in a row and protein content averaged 11 percent.

“Importers and overseas customers are always looking for high protein content, and this report proves once again that U.S. sorghum provides that,” said USGC Secretary-Treasurer Verity Ulibarri, a sorghum and livestock farmer in New Mexico. “Most U.S. growers produce a non-tannin red variety which is a huge benefit to end-users since high-tannin sorghum can interfere with nutrient absorption for livestock.”

This report is the fourth completed since the 2016/2017 sorghum crop and the Council plans to roll out these statistics across a series of events around the world.

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