🌾 New grain on the block

Thanks to Brazil’s climate, many farmers around the country are able to have two harvests a year. For instance, once soybean producers reap the main crop of Brazil’s number one grain, it is common for them to plant a second, winter crop — known as the safrinha, or “little harvest.” With its uses for food, animal feed and ethanol production, corn has long been the dominant choice. But another grain is gaining ground in some regions: sorghum.

Native to Africa, sorghum has traditionally been ground into flour across that continent and in parts of Asia. It can also be used for animal feed in much the same way as corn and soybeans. Long considered a marginal presence in Brazilian agriculture, the grain is now drawing growing interest, particularly from ethanol producers.

Those shifts are creating a modest but rapidly expanding domestic market. Brazil’s sorghum output has increased roughly…

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