Kansas farmers hold the No. 1 rank in sorghum production Harvey County Kansas is widely known for its wheat: The vast fields of golden grain that dance in the wind are akin to a coastal town’s ocean waves. But another Kansas crop’s deep red panicles make it equally beautiful despite its itchinducing leaves and seed heads that are covered in tiny, hair-like trichomes. That itchy but stunning plant is milo.
Many people use the terms “milo” and “sorghum” interchangeably, but farmers in Kansas will correct them on the terminology. Milo is the correct noun in the countryside.
“We kind of have an identity crisis,” Macey Mueller, who farms with her family in Harvey County, jokes. “For marketing purposes, sorghum is what we tend to call the crop, and it’s not going to change, but before I joined the Sorghum Checkoff Board, I rarely called it sorghum. It was always milo.”
HISTORY ROOTED IN ADAPTABILITY
Grain sorghum (milo to the farmers) originated in Africa and is now considered an ancient grain. Its drought-tolerant attributes make it well suited to the patchy, unpredictable nature of Kansas precipitation, and it has found a footing in livestock feed, ethanol fuel and gluten-free food products for humans…