Sorghum taking root as a source for ethanol

By Rick Neale, USA TODAY

FELLSMERE, Fla. — The race is on to build Florida's first sweet sorghum ethanol plant.
And Ray Coniglio hopes a 10-acre test patch of waving plants here will cultivate construction of such a facility in central Florida's Brevard County.

"You can see how they're growing. They're shooting right up," says Coniglio, president of Global Renewable Energy's ethanol division, walking with hands outstretched between rows of waving sweet sorghum. "You come out here every three days, and you can see the difference."

GRE planted this test crop April 5, and scientific testing is underway. If sugar content and tonnage per acre prove sufficient, the company hopes to grow 10,000 acres of sweet sorghum and build an ethanol distillery.

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