Research on sorghum varieties, production methods, and the crop’s potential for the Panhandle will be the focus of a Nebraska Extension Grain Sorghum Field Day Sept. 5 near Gordon.

The field day will begin at 9 a.m. MDT, led by Cody Creech, dryland cropping systems specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. Attendees will have the opportunity to view 25 grain sorghum hybrids and discuss how to select hybrids for the area. Other topics will include research on row spacing, a population trial, and a fertility trial.

Mike Baker, a grain sorghum producer from southwest Nebraska and member of the Nebraska Sorghum Board, will present on how he uses grain sorghum in his rotations and will answer production questions.

The field day site is 5 miles south of Gordon on Highway 27 at the southeast corner of the intersection with 590^th road. The grower cooperator is Ben Schaer.

The research and field day are supported in part by a Partnership Grant from the North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program and Nebraska Extension. The SARE project is  titled "Incorporating Grain Sorghum in Semi-Arid Crop Rotations with Short Growing Seasons to Increase Resiliency of Cropping Systems."

Grain sorghum is a drought-tolerant crop known for its efficient water use. Adoption has been limited on the High Plains because higher elevations have cool night temperatures which limit heat-unit accumulation and delay physiological maturity; however, researchers have demonstrated in the High Plains of Nebraska and Colorado that grain sorghum production is possible in most years.