Slowing global trade activity, and growing biofuels opportunities have pushed US sorghum growers to pivot towards ethanol as a future driver of demand.
Slowing international trade, with some partners "on the sideline" this year combined with a large harvest has created "piles" across the sorghum belt, said John Duff, with the US National Sorghum Producers (NSP) said during the Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas, last week.
China was the largest purchaser of US sorghum, importing nearly 60pc of US sorghum production from 2020 through 2024, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. Another 5pc of US sorghum production has historically been shipped to African countries, often supported by food aid programs like US Agency for International Development (USAID).
These export opportunities took a hit in 2025 following the US-China trade dispute, and the cancellation of USAID by US president Donald Trump. During 2025, combined sorghum exports to China and Africa fell 88pc from the previous year, pulling US sorghum exports to their lowest level in over a decade.
At the same time, the US sorghum harvest reached 11.1mn metric tonnes (t) in 2025 – its highest level in 9 years — boosting US stocks to 6.8mn t as of 1 December 2025, up 26pc from the previous year, according to USDA data.
This supply glut occurred along with growing demand from US ethanol producers for sorghum, which saw usage increase 273pc to 3.1mn t in 2025 on the year, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. To continue increasing sorghum's role in the US fuel ethanol sector, the NSP is looking to US biofuels policy for support.
The future looks domestic
Ethanol producers have only opportunistically used sorghum as a feedstock in the past due to technological and logistic limitations.
Sorghum inclusion rates have been historically limited by the need for finer screens compared with corn for grinding the grain, and the inclusion of protease enzymes for fermentation. But these practices are now widely adopted across the ethanol industry, with some producers storing the grain in the same bins alongside corn, Duff said.
But sorghum historically "isn't in the right place at the right time" due to a narrow harvest window and lack of on-farm storage. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) lists 17 facilities in its directory that can use sorghum as a feedstock for ethanol, with a combined production capacity of 1.34bn USG/yr. Ethanol yields from sorghum are typically lower on a per bushel (bu) basis than corn by 0.1-0.2 USG/bu, said Tad Hepner, vice president for strategy and innovation at the RFA. Typically, one bushel of corn produces 2.9 USG of ethanol, meaning current ethanol plants could consume as much as 12.6mn t/yr of sorghum.
Full utilization by these plants would still be a fraction of the more than 130mn t of corn that ethanol production consumes annually. And the location of these plants reflects the crop's limitations. Last year, Texas, Kansas and South Dakota accounted for more than 80pc of both US sorghum acres and ethanol plants capable of using the crop.
But last year did see sorghum displace a significant amount of corn. In 2025, US fuel ethanol production increased by 6.41mn bl from the prior year, according EIA data. At the same time, ethanol producers reduced corn use by 2.1mn t and increased sorghum use by 2.27mn t, according to EIA data.
Overcoming the logistics hurdle could prove a win-win for US ethanol and sorghum markets, particularly as biofuel polices appear set to align with the crop. Over 80pc of US sorghum production occurs in states which use agricultural production practices including reduced or no tillage, and split nitrogen application by necessity, Duff said.These practices can make the crop eligible for the 45Z clean fuels tax credit scheme.
Data is king
A major limitation in expanding sorghum's appeal to ethanol producers is the collection and verification of production data.
Because the practices that make sorghum eligible for 45Z credits were adopted as a necessity years ago, farmers often do not track and report them, making it difficult to claim the credits' value, Duff said. But the NSP is working to address this issues through a $70mn USDA Advancing Markets for Producers grant focused on improving farmer data collection. This, along with the USDA's recently announced One Farm, One File initiative could reduce this barrier.
US sorghum producers are also looking to other markets as pathways towards expanding ethanol's interest in the feedstock. The NPS is working to present a case to the US Environmental Protection Agency that would make the ethanol produced from sorghum eligible for the advanced biofuel D5 RIN credit under the Renewable Fuels Standard, Duff said, which would enhance the crop's appeal to ethanol producers.
