The U.S. Grains Council’s latest sorghum promotion initiative not only brought a team of Spain’s leading feed and livestock industry representatives to the United States, but also brought a renewed interest in purchasing U.S. sorghum.

Since the Spanish and Portuguese Sorghum Buyers Team visited Kansas and Texas in January – a visit organized in partnership with the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) – more offers have surfaced for sales to be delivered in March and April.

Sales of U.S. sorghum to Spain have already reached 340,000 metric tons (13.4 million bushels) as of Jan. 20, according to USDA’s Export Sales. Comparatively, in the 2009/2010 market year, there were no sales of U.S. sorghum to Spain.

Buyers team participants included representatives of 12 large grain-using entities, including swine, poultry and beef producers.

“We concentrated on making this a very educational experience about using U.S. sorghum,� said Florentino Lopez, USCP director of market development. “It’s clear from their feedback that this group valued the education that the Sorghum Checkoff and the Council provided.�

In Kansas, the team attended a sorghum educational workshop through Kansas State University’s International Grains Program. They then traveled to South Texas to tour a King Ranch beef feeding operation that uses sorghum and to spent time with U.S. sorghum producers.

During the trip, team members also received extensive technical information about sorghum use in rations for a variety of livestock.

“This was all about how to use sorghum as a feed component,� Lopez said. “It was also an opportunity to dispel any myths that might exist.�