Sweet sorghum

Sweet sorghum thrives better under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and syrup production.

In 1857 James F. C. Hyde wrote, "Few subjects are of greater importance to us, as a people, than the producing of sugar; for no country in the world consumes so much as the United States, in proportion to its population."

At the same time, anti-slavery families boycotting sweeteners made under slavery as "blood-stained"[7] could grow sorghum and make the syrup in the North, so it was not solely a Southern foodstuff.

less than 1 million US gallons (3,800 m3) are produced annually in the U.S.[citation needed] In Central India it was introduced in the early 1970s by Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute[8][9] for ethanol and syrup production.

Sweet sorghum syrup has shown good antioxidant properties and is found to be useful in food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.

[15] Texas A&M University ran trials to ascertain the best varieties for ethanol production from sorghum leaves and stalks in the USA.