Niche markets for sorghum

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Radio interview source: Tim Lust, CEO, National Sorghum Growers

Sorghum is becoming the "cream of the crop". It grows just about anywhere in the U.S. and can be used for much more than livestock feed.

Tim Lust is the CEO of the National Sorghum Growers and says the crop is unique because it's very diverse.

"Sorghum works beautifully in floral arrangements and there's certainly a niche market there," Lust says. "We have red sorghums and white sorghums so we have some color differences which are very important to some of our niche markets like the birdseed industry. We talk about things as unique as wallboard. Sorghum starch is one of the main components in a lot of wallboard that goes into home construction in this country. Not many people think about that or even know about that."

It doesn't take a huge farm to make money raising sorghum. For example, many small farmers along the East Coast with only three or four acres reach a good market.