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from corn starch. Critics of the ethanol industry complain too much corn is going to energy production, resulting in higher food prices for consumers. Corn affects food prices in multiple ways because it's a widely used ingredient in food manufacturing and it's used to feed livestock.
• More grain sorghum going to fuel production is unlikely to spark the same complaints, because it is not the main ingredient in a number of foods. While it can be used in human food, it's sold mainly to feed poultry, cattle and other livestock. Sweet sorghum produces edible syrup.
• Sorghum also has environmental advantages. It is more tolerant of drought than other crops, including corn, and it produces about the same amount of ethanol per

bushel as corn while requiring one-third less water.
• It's less often used than corn in conventional ethanol because corn is much more plentiful, Hartwig said -- U.S. corn acres this year outnumber sorghum acres about 16 to one. Also, most ethanol plants are in the Corn Belt focused around Iowa and Illinois, while sorghum is grown primarily in the central and southern Great Plains. Along with Kansas, the top producers are Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.
• The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that ethanol made from grain sorghum can qualify as an advanced biofuel if it's made at plants with the proper green technology. The agency has taken public comments and will issue a final determination later. No time frame has been set.
• Its approval would make sorghum-based ethanol more attractive because advanced ethanol commands a higher price than conventional, said Chris Cogburn, strategic business director for the National Sorghum Producers.
• The question, Hartwig said, is whether ethanol producers are willing to install the equipment needed to produce advanced ethanol from sorghum.
• "It has great potential for the future and (is) something the industry will be exploring, but we don't know about the impact here in the near future," he said.
• Western Plains Energy LLC in Oakley, Kan., which makes conventional ethanol, aims to be the first to upgrade to that technology. The plant is installing equipment that will use methane gas from cattle manure rather than natural gas, cut down on water use and turn waste into a fertilizer. The transition will cost $30 million to $40 million and could be done by the end of the year or early next year.
• "We're going to try to produce over 50 million gallons (of advanced ethanol) per year," said Curt Sheldon, the plant's chief accounting officer. "At today's prices, we could probably pay for the project in two to three years."

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