National Sorghum Producers Partners with USDA to Quantify Sorghum Sustainability in Key Ethanol Production Region
LUBBOCK, TX (October 22, 2019) – National Sorghum Producers today announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service in Kansas. The partnership will be executed through a conservation collaboration grant that will document sorghum farmer practices to promote positive conservation outcomes and quantify the environmental footprint of the crop.
“Sorghum farmers in Kansas and across the nation have long been good stewards of the environment around them,” said NSP CEO Tim Lust. “Today, we will continue documenting this fact and work to understand how we can improve even more. With 74 percent of sorghum grown using conservation tillage and 91 percent receiving no supplemental irrigation water, improvement is a tall order, but we believe our farmers are up to the challenge.”
“One-third of the U.S. sorghum crop is used to produce fuel ethanol, which receives a premium for lower carbon intensity scores in certain markets,” he said. “This makes demonstrating sustainability and continuous improvement at the farm level extremely important. Fortunately, sustainability goals in fuel markets and conservation goals here at home go hand-in-hand, and we look forward to working with NRCS to further these goals and create additional opportunities for sorghum farmers.”
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National Sorghum Producers represents U.S. sorghum producers and serves as the voice of the sorghum industry coast to coast through legislative representation, regulatory representation and education. To learn more about NSP, visit www.sorghumgrowers.com.