Tim Lust
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Last year the National Sorghum Producers favored giving farmers “a choice” of farm programs, but they still haven’t decided whether the payments should be tied to current production or not, CEO Tim Lust said in an interview on Saturday.

Sorghum producers, Lust said, want “some sort of price support mechanism,” but the growers are still “open” to either keeping those potential payments coupled to current production or decoupled depending on what that program looks like.

“The devil is in the details,” said Lust. “You can’t have that discussion without the other components of Title I. Sorghum growers want the farm program to be “fair and equitable,” Lust said, “It’s a little bit of a gray area.”

“It is doable — getting across the finish line,” Lust said, adding that he believes action on the farm bill “will be faster this year.”

Discussions with congressional staff, he said, has led him to believe there is a “a lot of talk about going through a regular order process” rather than attaching the farm bill to another piece of legislation.

As Congress debates a new farm bill, Lust and the sorghum growers may have more sway than in the past for the simple reason that farmers are planting more acres to sorghum.

Sorghum had been declining in acreage for years, and the farm program using historical base had been using more sorghum acres than have been planted in recent years, Lust noted. But now sorghum acreage is going up and that may influence whether payments should be coupled or decoupled.

Still, Lust noted, regional concerns may influence the organization’s policy.

Sorghum requires less water but it is growing in acreage for reasons besides the drought. In Kansas, he noted, it’s because of demand for renewable fuels. In Texas, it’s because cotton farmers are switching to sorghum. And in North Carolina it’s demand for feed.

But he added that acreage is also up in Nebraska, the Mississippi and South Dakota.

“The price is tracking really well. We are extremely close to the price of corn,” Lust said.