U.S. farmers are poised to expand plantings of sorghum by nearly 20% this year, a far larger percentage than soy or corn acres, as the crop purchased mainly by China for use in animal feed and to make baiju liquor trades at a premium.
Reuters reports that although strong demand for corn and soybeans lifted futures prices of those crops to near-decade highs, farmers said sorghum is particularly appealing this year as it is more resistant to drought.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in March projected U.S. sorghum plantings for 2021 at 6.940 million acres, up 18% from the previous year and the most since 2015. Seedings of corn, the most-planted U.S. crop, were seen roughly flat at 91.1 million acres.
