Sorghum

You might not have heard of the grain crop sorghum (SOR-guhm), but it is actually one of the most important crops produced in the United States. Like corn, sorghum, also called milo, is used mainly as a feed for livestock. It’s also used to make ethanol and some human foods. Atrazine is critical to the U.S. sorghum industry for one simple reason: It effectively controls many of the weeds that invade fields and significantly reduce yield. Because sorghum is considered a minor crop, fewer herbicides have been developed to control weeds. For decades, the use of atrazine has meant controlling weeds and increasing yield, not unlike corn production.

Also, atrazine is vital to sorghum growers who want to use environmentally friendly conservation tillage or no-till farming practices.

Sorghum is primarily produced in the High Plains states of Kansas, Texas and Nebraska, but is also grown in many other states.