Sorghum Increasing In Popularity In Dry Areas

 

Sorghum, also known as milo, was one of the few crops that survived the blistering 2012 drought in the Midwest.  A story this week on Yahoo News highlighted the grain, which is also gluten-free and is used for animal feed and methanol in the US but is a subsistence crop in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Sorghum is increasingly being used for beer, grain mixes and as a popcorn substitute, especially now that gluten-free alternates are so marketable.  The major drawback to the use of the grain for human consumption is its strong taste.  You can read the story here.  Since sorghum takes less water and fertilizer than other crops, it is very useful in areas like the Southeast where temperatures and evaporation have increased since the 1970s and several droughts have occurred in the last 15 years.