Amy France, Scott City, Kan., is the new chairwoman of the National Sorghum Producers. She was elected at the board of directors annual meeting Aug. 21.

France will lead an executive team that also counts Kansans Garrett Love, Montezuma, and Craig Meeker, Wellington, as vice chairman and past chairman, respectively. Other Kansans on the NSP board of directors include Doug Keesling, Chase, and Tom Willis, Liberal.

“It is a true honor to serve as chairwoman of NSP. Just as in farming, many fine people have blazed the trail before me, so that we can achieve the things we do today,” France said in a press release from NSP. “I’m grateful for past leadership and their examples and look forward to continuing to carry the torch for sorghum and agriculture in this most important time.”

France operates a family farm in western Kansas, producing grain sorghum, corn, wheat and black Angus cattle. She and her husband, Clint, are third-generation farmers, working alongside their oldest son. France has served on the NSP board of directors since 2018.

The new officers and directors will officially begin their 2024-2025 term Oct. 1. The full NSP board of directors includes:

View NSP’s entire leadership team at sorghumgrowers.com.

Other sorghum news

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research awarded a Seeding Solutions grant to the National Agricultural Research Organization to develop sorghum varieties with increased nutritional value, uses for livestock and improved yield. With matching funds from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre and NARO, the research investment is a total $1.6 million.

Although sorghum grains contain essential nutrients like iron and zinc, the bioavailability of these nutrients is hindered by the high levels of “antinutrients” found in the grains, according to FFAR. Raising the levels of iron and zinc nutrients while simultaneously lowering the levels of antinutrients would greatly increase the availability of nutritious foods in arid regions, such as East Africa, further increasing food and national security. Furthermore, stalks and leaves from sorghum varieties with no or low levels of hydrogen cyanide have the potential to serve as safe livestock forage, thereby improving meat and milk quality suitable for human consumption.

Dr. Scovia Adikini at NARO is developing sorghum varieties with high iron and zinc in the grain for human consumption, and reduced levels of hydrogen cyanide in stalks and leaves for animal forage by identifying nutritional quality and discovery of genetic markers. This research enables rapid development and release of better-yielding and nutritionally rich sorghum varieties adapted to dryland regions of Africa.