With sorghum harvest well underway, farmers are taking steps to ensure quality for customers here at home and around the world.

More than three-quarters of U.S. sorghum is mature with 65 percent of the crop rated as good or better in the 11 states that planted 98 percent of the 2014 sorghum acreage, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) crop progress report issued on Oct. 4.

Harvesting and maintaining this high-quality crop will be important this year as U.S. sorghum buyers around the globe continue to demand a high-quality product.

“With 75 percent of this year’s U.S. sorghum crop likely to be exported, international demand for the coarse grain is gaining importance in the sorghum industry,� said Alan Tiemann, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) chairman and a farmer in Nebraska.

“The entire U.S. sorghum value-chain has to work diligently towards providing these key buyers with the high quality they demand.�

Three vital things U.S. farmers should keep in mind as they harvest their sorghum are:

• watching for foreign materials;
• adjusting equipment prior to harvesting to ensure the best possible grain makes it into the bin; and
• harvesting sorghum at 14 percent moisture or lower for optimal storing capacity.

The Council and the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) are reaching out to farmers as harvest is underway to promote these best practices and other efforts to produce a high-quality crop.

USCP’s High Value Markets Program Director Doug Bice talked with farm broadcasters this week about sorghum quality, and additional information for farmers is available at http://sorghumcheckoff.com/harvest-quality-grain-sorghum-this-season/.