Poland and Hungary are charting their sorghum course.
Sorghum Captures Interest in Poland
For the first time this year, PZPK, the Polish Corn Producers Association, has established a trial plot for sorghum to showcase and demonstrate the crop’s full potential in Poland.
Tadeusz Michalski, the association’s president, shares the motivations behind this initiative in a press release.
The organization was established in 1984 to unite all stakeholders involved in corn production, including farmers, seed producers, and researchers. In the early 2000s, Poland faced three consecutive drought years that significantly reduced corn yields. During this time, Syngenta introduced a promising sorghum hybrid with notable drought tolerance. Trials demonstrated that sorghum performed better than corn on superficial soils during drought years. Within a year, the cultivated area expanded from a few hectares to nearly 20,000. However, dairy cattle farmers observed reduced milk production when feeding cows with sorghum. As a result, within three years, the cultivated area decreased to around 3,000 hectares. Since then, the sorghum-growing area remained relatively stable until last year.
“Our main goal was to show that thanks to the genetic progress made in recent years, the technical and agronomic characteristics of sorghum had made considerable headway,” Michalski said. “The trial plot included thirteen varieties – six for grain and seven for feed – from different companies: KWS, Lidea, RAGT, and Agro Seed (a Hungarian breeding company). The idea was to explain that the range of offer is wider now, with hybrids that can be planted later, are well-adjusted to our country’s climate, and work well for different outlets. Even if the methane industry is not developed much in Poland, there are certain sorghum varieties that are perfectly suitable for this use. The farmers, seed companies, technicians, and students who visited our field plot understood that the new varieties performed well, no matter their final outlet “
Sorghum offers nutritional benefits similar to corn, provides an alternative for crop rotation (essential under Polish legislation), and is less vulnerable to wild boars and borers, making it an appealing option for farmers.
Michalski said the aim is to expand sorghum cultivation to 50,000 hectares within five to seven years, given its strong growth potential in Poland, particularly for grain and feed production in dairy regions. With over half of Poland’s soils being light, low in productivity, and drought-prone, sorghum offers a viable alternative to corn. It is planted a month later than corn and demonstrates better tolerance to water stress. Next year’s trial plot will be reorganized to showcase genetic advancements and support the crop’s future development.
Hungary Determined to Grow Sorghum
Miklos Fazekas, general manager of Alfaseed, a family-owned seed company, is a member of VSZT, Hungary’s seed producers’ association. VSZT will co-organize the European Sorghum Conference in Budapest on Oct. 8-9, 2025. He highlights the importance of sorghum for Hungary and explains VSZT’s involvement in the event, according to a press release.
VSZT, the Hungarian Association of Seed Production, is a non-profit organization consisting of individuals and legal entities in the seed industry. With 1,220 members, the organization represents companies of various sizes and specialties, including breeders, growers, seed production companies, traders, processors, and more. As an interprofessional body, VSZT brings together all stakeholders in the seed industry, fostering communication across all crops — onions, sunflowers, sorghum, corn — and from small seed packages to large export lots requiring certification. The main goal is to ensure the supply of certified seed to producers, while also supporting the advancement of variety selection and breeding for more sustainable hybrids.
Fazekas said that sorghum plays an increasingly important role in their rotations.
“A few years ago, farmers would only add it to their rotations to supplement their production of grain or feed. Since then, things have evolved; sorghum has become more and more popular, because of the problematic weather conditions in recent years. The climate change, marked by strong summer droughts and a sharp decline in rainfalls have driven farmers to look for crops that are more tolerant to all these stressors and the first one on the list is sorghum. The country’s total sorghum area went from 5,000 hectares in 2015 to 45,000 hectares in 2024. Its feed sorghum area has reached 12,000 hectares. The areas may still continue to grow as their outlets develop. Among the factors that limit sorghum expansion are the competition of corn, which is grown on much wider areas and the disrupting impact of Ukraine’s exports to the EU.”
The release notes that Hungary is one of the largest sorghum seed producers in the EU, with an area that stands at 1,000 hectares, in 2024. Fazekas said their seed market isn’t mature yet, but the industry has made real progress, year after year. The farmers’ technical know-how is also evolving. In five years, we should reach a new level of maturity.
Sorghum is used as both food and feed, with the feed sector being the most significant, particularly in the swine and poultry industries. Despite this, sorghum remains unfamiliar to many consumers. While sorghum grains are not part of traditional Hungarian cuisine, new recipes featuring it as an ingredient are emerging. With the growing prevalence of gluten allergies in Hungary, the introduction of sorghum could offer a solution for many people.
The sorghum area could easily reach 100,000 hectares if processing sectors, such as the methane industry, utilized more of this crop. Another challenge to address is the lack of equipment for drying and storing harvested crops. Sorghum is harvested simultaneously with corn and sunflower, two key crops in Hungary, and not all equipment has the capacity to handle large quantities of all three at the same time.
In 2025, Hungary will host the European Sorghum Conference in Budapest on Oct. 8-9, with VSZT as one of the organizers. The event will bring together international representatives, offering an opportunity to share insights on sorghum’s agronomic advantages and its food/feed uses. The conference will also highlight recent successful production results and new development opportunities for sorghum in Hungary.
