Feed your cattle, fuel your Mustang:
Sweet sorghum is not just for breakfast anymore. Although sorghum is a source for table syrup, scientists see a future in which we convert sorghum to biofuel, rather than relying on fossil fuel. That potential just grew as University of Florida researchers found three UF/IFAS-developed sorghum varieties could produce up to 1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre.
"Sweet sorghum has the potential to be an effective feedstock for ethanol production," said Wilfred Vermerris, a UF/IFAS professor of microbiology and cell science and a co-author on the study.
Ethanol produced from sweet sorghum can be used for auto and jet fuel, UF/IFAS researchers said.
UF/IFAS researchers picture big fuel potential from sorghum partly because it's so abundant. Sorghum is the fifth largest cereal crop in the world and the third largest in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2014, the U.S. was the largest producer of sorghum in the world.
UF/IFAS scientists like sorghum because it can be cultivated twice a year in Florida, requires little fertilizer, uses water efficiently and can be drought resistant, UF/IFAS research shows.
Combine this with terra preta to get more harvests per year and they might have something.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 16 2017, @01:55AM (1 child)
I should have known, but had to double check. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorghum#Cultivation_and_uses [wikipedia.org] I'm less sure than AC - does all sorghum produce USEFUL grain, or are the seeds of some varieties useless to man? Johnson grass, for example, is just a weed, as far as I know. If all sorghum varieties are like Johnson grass, they are difficult to eradicate from a field.
Image of seeds from Johnson grass - other varieties will be similar - http://www.pottcounty.org/ImageRepository/Document?documentID=625 [pottcounty.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 16 2017, @02:04AM
An image of sorghum bicolor, the primary (only?) variety used for human food - https://www.organicfacts.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Sorghum.jpg [organicfacts.net]
Compare to that image of johnson grass above. Johnson grass is scraggly looking, where this is full and plump looking. I can see this being used as a grain crop.