Oklahoma: OSU experts discuss sweet sorghum use in ethanol

The Joplin Globe
The Associate Press

Published October 21, 2009 11:36 pm - CHICKASHA, Okla. — With demand growing for ethanol produced from sources other than corn, researchers at Oklahoma State University said Wednesday that state agriculture producers could someday grow sweet sorghum or switchgrass as cash crops.

Division scientists and engineers from OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources spoke during a “biofuels field day” at the university’s South Central Research Station in Chickasha about the potential of crops that could be grown by Oklahoma farmers for use in ethanol production.

Little sweet sorghum is grown in Oklahoma because there hasn’t been much need for it, said Danielle Bellmer, a food process engineer at OSU’s Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center who talked enthusiastically Wednesday about the plant’s potential as a renewable energy crop.

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