News

Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission Invests in Market Development and Research

PRESS RELEASE
Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission

 

For More Information Contact:
Jesse McCurry
Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission
(785) 477-9474
[email protected]
For Immediate Release

 

Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission Invests in Market Development and Research

 

The Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission approved their FY19 budget authorizing $953,858 in overall investment. Despite a challenging budget year, the Commission sharpened their focus on market promotion and development and narrowed in on key focus areas in research at K-State.

“This year we determined to reallocate our resources to try and provide the producers with more value for their investment in the Sorghum Commission, said Stephen Bigge, board chairman and farmer from Stockton. “We worked very hard to identify investments in research and market development and promotion, that would provide that value to growers in Kansas.”

The following highlight approved projects contingent on USCP/AMS approval:

  • Improving chilling tolerance in grain sorghum with genomics-assisted breeding: $94,300
  • Breeding sorghum for improved dryland productivity and utilization: $90,702
  • Development of sorghum parental lines with enhanced drought and cold tolerance: $63,000
  • Discovery and design of highly efficient sorghum haploid inducers for doubled haploid breeding system: $48,000
  • Physiological and genetic characterization of grain sorghum for enhancing early season chilling and terminal drought stress resilience: $45,000
  • Development of high yielding cold tolerant sorghum adapted to Kansas: $42,600
  • S Grains Council – Finding new demand globally: $40,000
  • Germplasm screening, host interactions, and lodging resilience for stalk rot diseases in Kansas: $37,155
  • Mechanism of mesotrione tolerance in sorghum and screening sorghum germplasm for tolerance to synthetic auxins: $25,000
  • Growth Energy NASCAR promotion – higher blended fuels: $25,000
  • International Grains Program Market Development: $20,000
  • Sorghum Schools: $8,960

“Farmer leaders spend considerable time seeking and evaluating projects that will enhance productivity and profitability,” said Sarah Sexton-Bowser, managing director of Center for Sorghum Improvement. “The Commission’s investments represent a portfolio of 21st century science to address today’s sorghum farmer needs.”

*funding is contingent upon approval of USDA AMS

 

For more information contact Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission at (785) 477-9474 or www.ksgrainsorghum.org.

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