Sorghum Checkoff Expanding Foreign Markets, Opportunities for Producers
The Sorghum Checkoff and the U.S. Grains Council are hosting a group of Spanish and Portuguese grain buyers in Kansas and South Texas this week to encourage the use of sorghum in foreign poultry, swine and ruminant industries.
Hosting foreign grain buyers in the Sorghum Belt is helping to develop new and existing markets that create opportunities for sorghum farmers.
“This group offers a great opportunity to sorghum producers because they represent very diverse industries in Spain and Portugal,” said Greg Graff, a sorghum farmer from Marienthal, Kan. “We had everyone from nutritionists and feed millers to producer representatives. They are very interested in the sorghum and its potential in their industry.”
Spain has been a very important customer for sorghum in the past and now wants to learn the newest practices in feed milling and ration formulation, as well as the current nutritive values of grain sorghum.
“Sorghum offers them a great value and they recognize that,” Graff said.
Due to shortages of feed grains, many European countries are looking for opportunities to import high quality grain. To date, Spain has imported or committed to more than 18 million bushels of U.S. sorghum. Since 2009, the number of countries importing sorghum has increased, thanks largely to many other foreign grain buyer tours like the one taking place this week.
The Spanish and Portuguese grain buyers spent time in Manhattan, Kan., at the International Grains Program learning about how sorghum can be beneficial in poultry, swine and ruminant rations. After a series of lectures from industry experts, the group will travel to South Texas where they will meet with elevators and sorghum producers, visit key ports at Corpus Christi and Brownsville, and tour the King Ranch to see how the most prominent Texas ranches utilize sorghum in their rations for optimal beef production.
“The Sorghum Checkoff‘s international marketing efforts with the U.S. Grains Council have helped increase awareness and increase the value of sorghum, first at the ports, and now it is showing up in inland market prices,” said Sorghum Checkoff Marketing Director, Florentino Lopez. “Spain has been an increasingly important customer to U.S. sorghum in the past year. By having these groups here to talk with producers and see how sorghum is handled from the elevator to the port, we are educating them on the quality and availability of our product.”