US Grains Council releases sorghum harvest quality report

In November 2015, the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) released its first Sorghum Early Harvest Quality Report. This report showed that 92 percent of U.S. sorghum samples are rated at quality grade No. 2 or better.
This report is based on 50 commodity grain sorghum samples taken from defined areas within five of the top sorghum-producing and exporting states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Inbound samples were collected from local grain elevators to observe quality at the point of origin and to provide representative information about the variability of quality characteristics across the crop production area.
The sorghum samples were tested at the department of soil and crop sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, in accordance with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Federal Grain Inspection Service’s (FGIS) Grain Inspection Handbook.
Though the harvest quality report is valuable information to customers, sorghum quality will be affected by further handling. In January 2016, the USGC will publish a second report, the Sorghum Harvest and Export Cargo Quality Report, to assess the quality of U.S. sorghum during the final half of the 2015 sorghum harvest season and the quality of U.S. sorghum as it is assembled for export.
The two reports are intended to provide reliable, timely and transparent information on the quality of U.S. sorghum as it moves through export channels. They will also use consistent methodology to permit the assessment of trends over time.
Setting the stage for the entire 2015 U.S. sorghum crop, the report showed that early harvest sorghum entered marketing channels with the following key characteristics:

Grade factors and moisture

• Average test weight of 57.9 pounds per bushel (74.5 kilograms per hectoliter), with 94 percent within the range for U.S. No. 2 grade sorghum.
• Low levels of broken kernels and foreign materials (average of 1.4 percent), with 92 percent within the range for U.S. No. 1 grade.
• Average foreign material of 0.5 percent, well within the range for U.S. No. 1 grade, indicating little cleaning will be required.
• Low levels of total damage (average of 0.2 percent), with 96 percent within the range for U.S. No. 1 grade.
• No observed heat damage.
• Average elevator moisture of 14.5 percent, near optimum for harvest moisture.

Chemical composition

• Average protein concentration of 10.4 percent on a dry basis.
• Average starch concentration of 73.3 percent on a dry basis.
• Average oil concentration of 4.3 percent on a dry basis.
• No detected levels of tannins.

Physical factors

• Average kernel diameter of 2.54 millimeters and average kernel volume of 19.22 cubic millimeters, typical values for any sorghum samples.
• A 1,000-kernel weight average of 25.97 grams.
• Average kernel true density of 1.350 grams per cubic centimeter.
• Average kernel hardness index of 68.5.

2015-16 sorghum crop production

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report released in November 2015 estimates U.S. sorghum production at 15.083 million metric tons (594 million bushels) in 2015-16, a 37 percent increase in production over the 2014-15 crop year. The United States is the top exporter of grain sorghum, accounting for almost 75 percent of the global trade.

China giving US farmers incentive to plant sorghum

• 

  USDA

  Farmers in the Southern Plains of the United States are seeing more incentive to plant sorghum this year.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Farmers in the Southern Plains of the United States are seeing more incentive to plant sorghum this year.
  Near the Gulf of Mexico, new-crop cash bids have been as much as $1.50 more than the price of corn, and, in Kansas, 30-40 cents more than corn.
  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates a 400,000-acre increase in sorghum planting this year, but that’s based on a model that may not include China’s forward purchases for the 2015-16 crop year. Nearly 300,000 metric tons have already been purchased by China and other unknown importers for the 2015-16 marketing year.
  Halfway through the 2014-15 marketing year, sorghum export sales have already reached USDA’s forecast, 96 percent of which went to China.
  The popularity of sorghum can be attributed to the dispute over biotech corn in China, but so too can better education of China’s livestock feeders on sorghum and Chinas import tariffs and quotas.
  China imports about 10 million metric tons of feed grains each year, and has a system of tariff rate quotas (TRQ) that limit the quantity of certain grain imports. The TRQ for corn is 2.88 million metric tons, which leaves just over 7 million metric tons to be supplied by other feed grains, such as sorghum.

Demand for sorghum on the rise

• 

  freeimages.com/wcfl10

  Sorghum is in high demand by China.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Sorghum is in high demand by China, and imports of U.S. sorghum to China increased 15-fold in the past year, pushing its price above corn in some parts of the U.S.
  Sorghum is a drought-hardy crop also known as milo that is grown in the Great Plains. According to a report, some Kansas grain elevators are offering farmers 10 percent more for sorghum than for corn.
  Because there is no futures market for sorghum, traders use corn futures to benchmark prices and manage risk.
  In the first 11 months of 2014, shipments of U.S. sorghum to China jumped 5.7 million metric tons, with a value of $1.3 billion, from about 362,000 tons a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
  The USDA estimates that the U.S. produced 433 million bushels of sorghum last year, up from 392 million bushels the previous year. That’s compared with 14.2 billion bushels of corn produced in 2014.
  Chinese companies use sorghum in feed for pigs, chickens and ducks because it costs less for them to import it than to buy corn produced in China.
  Analysts expect the higher demand and prices for sorghum to encourage U.S. growers to plant more of it. Sorghum requires less water than corn does, and seed costs are lower.

Animal feed costs could drop as grain prices forecast lower

Poultry and livestock producers should see some relief from high animal feed costs, as the price of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum have all been forecast lower, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, released on March 8.
Corn prices are projected 20 cents a bushel lower, with a range of $6.75 to $7.45. Part of that drop in price is based off of the emerging crop in South America and South Africa. The USDA’s World Agricultural Production report, also released on March 8, reflected Argentina’s corn production 26 percent above last year’s crop with yields improved by 30 percent. The same report projected South African corn production to be up 5 percent from last year.
Projected U.S. corn ending stocks are unchanged this month as an increase in imports and lower exports support higher expected feed and residual disappearance. Imports are raised 25 million bushels, reflecting the strong pace of shipment reported through January. Meanwhile, exports are lowered 75 million bushels, based on the slow pace of sales and shipments, as well as the strong expected competition from South American corn and competitively priced feed quality wheat.
The projected season-average price range for soybeans is narrowed 25 cents, with a range of $13.80 to $14.80 per bushel. Soybean meal prices are forecast at $425 to $445 per short ton, which is down $10.
U.S. soybean supply and use projections are unchanged, leaving ending stocks at 125 million bushels. Although soybean export commitments through February exceeded last year’s pace, exports are expected to decline in upcoming months due to increased competition from South America.
Sorghum prices are forecast 20 cents a bushel lower, with a range of $6.70 to $7.40. Exports are projected 10 million bushels higher, based on the strong pace of sales and shipments.
Wheat, meanwhile, is forecast at 10 cents a bushel lower with a range of $7.65 to $7.95. Key to the drop is increased supplies, as global supplies are raised 1.8 million tons with higher production. India’s production alone is increased at 1 million tons.

Kansas officials urge farmers to plant sorghum instead of corn, soybeans

As Kansas prepares for its third consecutive year of drought, state officials are encouraging farmers to plant more grain sorghum instead of corn or soybeans, which traditionally use more water.
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and Kansas Agriculture Secretary, Dale Rodman, were two of a handful of state officials who took part in a drought-related conference call on December 20.
Rodman said the state has been advocating that farmers plant more sorghum, because it requires 10-11 inches of water, compared to 18-24 inches of water for corn and soybeans. The farmers are responding.
“People are beginning to think a little bit differently on the agriculture side,” said Rodman. “Sorghum production is swinging up this year, which uses about 60 percent of the water as corn, which makes it more indigenous to our climate. … Actually sorghum seed is in short supply in western Kansas this year, which is good because it uses less water.”
Brownback, a former state agriculture secretary, also stressed that Kansans use less water in all aspects of life.
“We can’t predict the end date of this drought. I am asking all Kansans to please take steps to reduce their water usage and to be conscious of fire hazards,” Brownback said.
The teleconference took place the morning following the state’s first significant snowfall of 2012, where portions of northern Kansas received as much as 5 inches of snow.