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Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission Invests nearly $1 million to improve Crop

The Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission board of directors invested heavily to fund proposals targeted at furthering sorghum growers productivity and demand. The commitment, which was approved during the Sept. 13 board meeting, concludes the request for proposals cycle that began April 2017.

The Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission board and staff dedicated the past several months to reviewing proposals in a process focused on weed control, market development and sugarcane aphid solutions. A total of 18 proposals were received and 10 were ultimately funded.

“This culminates the board’s efforts in requesting, reviewing and establishing funding for projects intended to assist the sorghum industry and more importantly, the sorghum farmer,” said Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission Executive Director Jesse McCurry.

McCurry said the board continues to emphasize its commitment to funding projects that will support increases in field-level productivity as well as market-level demand and value enhancements, which continue to be seen as a valuable means of increasing opportunities for farmer profitability.

The board of directors made a final decision to approve the following:

  • Ignacio Ciampitti (K-State) receives $10,091 for Sorghum Production Schools in Kansas
  • Krishna Jagadish (K-State) receives $55,000 for Physiological and Genetic Characterization of Grain Sorghum for Enhancing Terminal Heat and Drought Stress Resilience
  • Chris Little (K-State) receives $45,100 for Germplasm Screening, Host Interactions, and Lodging Resilience for Stalk Rot Diseases in Kansas
  • Geoff Morris (K-State) receives $82,300 for Improving Early-Season Cold and Drought Tolerance in Grain Sorghum with Genomics and Phenomics
  • Ramasamy Perumal (K-State) receives $99,000 for Development of Sorghum Parental (A/B and R) Lines with Enhanced Drought and Cold Tolerance
  • Tesfaye Tesso (K-State) receives $97,700 for Breeding for Improved Dryland Productivity and Utilization
  • Sarah Sexton-Bowser receives $7,500 for Center for Sorghum Improvement Seminar Series
  • Chad Hayes (USDA ARS) receives $25,000 for Evaluation of New USDA Sorghum Hybrids and Inbred Lines for Tolerance to the Sugarcane Aphid
  • Gordon Smith (K-State) receives $30,000 for IGP Institute Market Development
  • Mithila Jugulam (K-State) receives $25,000 for Mechanism of Mesotrione Tolerance in Sorghum and Screening Sorghum Germplasm for Tolerance to Synthetic Auxins
  • Heartland Plant Innovations receives $55,000 for Development of Sorghum Doubled Haploid
  • U.S. Grains Council receives $25,000 for market development
  • Center for Sorghum Improvement receives $200,000 for Collaborative Sorghum Investment Program
  • K-State Sports Properties receives $12,170 for ethanol promotion

Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission will continue to provide support for increasing in-bound and out-bound trade teams as well as technical support in collaboration with United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) and Kansas Department of Agriculture to grow international markets.

*Funding is contingent upon approval of USDA Agricultural Marketing Service

Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission invests funds from sorghum farmers to enhance profitability for the producer.