Sweet Sorghum May Supplant Corn as Possible Ethanol Crop in Louisiana
The Alexandria Daily Town Talk reports that the next big alternative fuel crop and boon for Louisiana farmers may very well be sweet sorghum, a cane-like plant with a high sugar content grown primarily for forage, silage, and sugar production.
Lee McClune, president of the Iowa-based Sorganol Production Co., has presented research to the AgCenter from Iowa State University that shows sweet sorghum can produce more than six times the ethanol, about 3,037 gallons per acre, than the 450 gallons per acre produced from corn. Sweet sorghum also can be grown and turned into ethanol a lot cheaper than corn, McClune said, returning about $1,000 more per acre than corn.
McLune explained that Louisiana’s sub-tropical climate is ideal for growing sweet sorghum, which, he said, can be grown in Louisiana 9-10 months during the year, compared with 4-5 months in midwestern states such as Iowa.
AgCenter engineers, however, are waiting to see if the technology McClune is touting lives up to expectations: “I have to take a much closer look at the technology. If it can do what he claims, it’s a very promising thing,” said Dorin Boldor, an agriculture engineer with the LSU AgCenter in Baton Rouge.
Sugar cane is better for ethanol production than both sweet sorghum and corn, with varieties producing as much as 3,299 gallons of ethanol per acre. It cannot, however, be effectively grown in the state much farther north than Alexandria.
Sweet sorghum, on the other hand, can be grown all over the state, and research is needed to determine which variety of sweet sorghum grows the best in central Louisiana. A smaller variety of sorghum, used in animal feed, is already being grown by Louisiana farmers.