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Sorghum Research Directory
Sorghum research is scattered across federal labs, land-grant universities, international programs, checkoff boards, and a small commercial supply chain. No single place maps it. This directory is that map, built the way the rest of this site is built: verified facts, primary links, no endorsements.
This page covers sorghum. Coverage is US-centered by design. This site works in the American supply chain, with international anchors (Pretoria, Queensland, ICRISAT, CSIR) included where the science is foundational.
The rules every directory runs on, what an entry is, what a listing means, and who owns a person, are on one page: How the directories work. Corrections and removals: contact us.
| Name | What | Category | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDA-ARS Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit — Manhattan, Kansas | The federal lab closest to this site's subject: sorghum grain composition and how its components, especially proteins,… | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA-ARS Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit — Tifton, Georgia | The southeastern federal breeding unit whose crop portfolio includes sweet sorghum among its grasses, the federal breeding… | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA-ARS Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research Unit — Lincoln, Nebraska | The plains federal unit with sorghum in its name, breeding and genetics research for the crop's northern range. | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA-ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit — Madison, Wisconsin | The federal cereal-quality lab that produced the sorghum micro-malting screening this site republishes in full, the closest… | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA-ARS Crop Germplasm Research Unit — College Station, Texas | The federal unit whose sorghum research, in its own words, "emphasizes evaluation and enhancement of germplasm", within a… | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-09-29 |
| Kansas State University — Manhattan, Kansas | Grain science, sorghum breeding, and the Center for Sorghum Improvement, embedded in the same campus ecosystem as the ARS unit… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Penn State University | Two distinct sorghum-relevant threads. | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Nevada, Reno | Home of the most on-topic sorghum breeding effort in the country: a program breeding sorghum specifically for malting and… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-10-14 |
| University of California, Davis | The malting and brewing science program, which collaborates with UNR on improving sorghum's malting potential and co-published… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Texas A&M University | Sorghum breeding, including specialty food-grade lines that reached commercial retail and registered waxy-endosperm germplasm,… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Purdue University | The sorghum protein digestibility program: the rapid assays that made screening for digestible sorghum practical, and the… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Arkansas | Alternative-malt economics and flavor chemistry, the program behind the only peer-reviewed cost model we have found for a… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Clemson University | Sorghum genetics work that screened diverse accessions for malt amylase activity, peer-reviewed evidence on why enzyme levels… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Texas Tech University | Sorghum crop physiology and agronomy, home of a $4.5 million, five-year USDA Advancing Markets for Producers grant aimed at… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Colorado State University | Sorghum adaptation genomics — including chilling-tolerance work that could expand the crop's viable growing regions northward,… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Florida | Fermented-beverage flavor science: the lab behind the sorghum beer yeast-and-volatiles study whose data this site republishes,… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Coastal Carolina University — Department of Chemistry | Conway, South Carolina. | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-26 |
| Donald Danforth Plant Science Center — St. Louis, Missouri | The independent plant-science institute running federally funded sorghum genomics, phenotyping, and stress-resilience programs. | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Pretoria — South Africa | The academic center of gravity for sorghum brewing science internationally; | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| CSIR — Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa | The historic home of industrial sorghum beer science: the CSIR-era research that first put sorghum malting quality on a… | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Queensland — Australia | Three sorghum threads. | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences — Poland | The Department of Fermentation and Cereals Technology's gluten-free and alternative-substrate brewing group, including the… | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| ICAR — Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad | India's national institute for sorghum and the millets, basic and strategic sorghum research plus the national coordinated… | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| ICRISAT — International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics | The global center for sorghum germplasm and improvement across the crop's home geographies; | Institutions · Independent and international centers | 2026-08-24 |
| Scott Bean | research chemist, USDA-ARS Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit, retired February 2026 after more than thirty years. | Contributors · Grain quality & protein science | 2026-09-08 |
| Kamaranga H.S. Peiris | formerly USDA-ARS Manhattan, retired 2026 and now working through Kansas State's Center for Sorghum Improvement, where he is… | Contributors · Grain quality & protein science | 2026-09-08 |
| Michael Tilley | research chemist and acting research leader, USDA-ARS Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit, Manhattan. | Contributors · Grain quality & protein science | 2026-09-08 |
| Bruce Hamaker | Purdue University. Sorghum protein digestibility, the assays and the high-digestibility lines that later proved out in malting… | Contributors · Grain quality & protein science | 2026-08-24 |
| John R.N. Taylor | University of Pretoria. | Contributors · Grain quality & protein science | 2026-08-24 |
| Joseph Awika | Texas A&M. Sorghum chemistry and health-focused food science; | Contributors · Grain quality & protein science | 2026-08-24 |
| Melinda Yerka | sorghum breeder, University of Nevada, Reno. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| John Baggett | University of Nevada, Reno. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| William Rooney | sorghum breeder, Texas A&M. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Tesfaye Tesso | professor of sorghum breeding and genetics, Kansas State University. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Mitch Tuinstra | Wickersham Chair and professor of plant breeding and genetics, Purdue University. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Richard Boyles | associate professor of cereal grains breeding and genetics, Clemson University (Pee Dee Research and Education Center). | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Stephen Kresovich | Clemson University. Sorghum genomics; | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Geoffrey Morris | Colorado State University. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Surinder Chopra | Penn State. Sorghum genetics; | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| David Jordan | University of Queensland (QAAFI). | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Nadia Shakoor | Danforth Plant Science Center. | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-08-24 |
| Anna Koltunow | University of Queensland (QAAFI). | Contributors · Breeding & genomics | 2026-10-17 |
| Katherine Thompson-Witrick | University of Florida, Food Science and Human Nutrition. | Contributors · Malting & brewing science | 2026-08-24 |
| Glen Fox | malting and brewing science, UC Davis. | Contributors · Malting & brewing science | 2026-08-24 |
| Scott Lafontaine | University of Arkansas. | Contributors · Malting & brewing science | 2026-08-24 |
| Cockburn, Elias & Hopfer | the Penn State gluten-free brewing research group: brewing procedures for gluten-free malts, starch digestion in gluten-free… | Contributors · Malting & brewing science | 2026-08-24 |
| Joanna Kawa-Rygielska & Alan Gasiński | Wrocław's Department of Fermentation and Cereals Technology: the authors of the sorghum-without-external-enzymes brewing… | Contributors · Malting & brewing science | 2026-08-24 |
| Steve Carly Zangue Desobgo | brewing process engineering; | Contributors · Malting & brewing science | 2026-08-24 |
| S.V. Krishna Jagadish | Thornton Distinguished Chair, Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University. | Contributors · Agronomy & crop systems | 2026-08-24 |
| Louis Prom | research plant pathologist, USDA-ARS Crop Germplasm Research, College Station, Texas. | Contributors · Grain mold, weathering & growing environment | 2026-09-29 |
| Thomas Isakeit | professor and extension specialist, Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension; | Contributors · Grain mold, weathering & growing environment | 2026-09-29 |
| Donghai Wang | professor, Carl and Melinda Helwig Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University. | Contributors · Grain mold, weathering & growing environment | 2026-09-29 |
| Craig Belser — Bard's Tale Beer Company | Founder and brewer of the original craft sorghum beer: the commercial proof, two decades ago, that sorghum could carry a beer… | Contributors · Industry contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| UNR sorghum for malting and brewing | The UNR project evaluating how production environments affect grain sorghum during craft malting and brewing, the western-US… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| UC Davis × UNR sorghum malting collaboration | Joint work on improving the malting potential of sorghum, connecting a breeding program to a brewing science program. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| Penn State gluten-free brewing program | Peer-reviewed output on gluten-free malt brewing procedures, starch digestion in gluten-free beers, and fermentation character. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| Center for Sorghum Improvement | The K-State-anchored sorghum improvement platform funding work on sorghum yield, demand, and value traits. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| Texas Tech sorghum markets grant (USDA) | A $4.5 million, five-year USDA Advancing Markets for Producers grant to an interdisciplinary team directed by Krishna… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Texas Tech Checkoff-funded sorghum project | A $1.6 million, five-year Sorghum Checkoff project announced October 2022, "Transforming grain sorghum's climatic yield… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Clemson eastern-US sorghum hybrids project | USDA NIFA AFRI award 2026-67014-45815, $495,000, through January 2029, to Rick Boyles at Clemson's Pee Dee Research and… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Danforth Center sorghum resilience programs | Federally funded multi-institutional sorghum genomics and stress-resilience research, including a DOE Biological and… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA-ARS project 448032: sorghum end-use value, including a fermented-beverage objective | The Manhattan, Kansas Grain Quality and Structure Research unit's in-house project "Interactions Among Physical Grain Traits,… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| USDA-ARS × Texas Tech: improvement in sorghum end-use quality and value | An ARS cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-024-A) run from the Manhattan Grain Quality and Structure Research unit, with… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| STRAIT network grain-quality phenotyping (USDA-ARS × Kansas State) | A non-assistance cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-039-S), May 26, 2026 to May 25, 2029, naming Sarah Sexton-Bowser… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Single-kernel NIR sorting of grain sorghum (USDA-ARS × Kansas State) | A cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-040-S), May 26, 2026 to May 25, 2029, studying what sorting kernels by protein or… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| High-amylose sorghum lines and NIR starch detection (USDA-ARS × Purdue) | A cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-029-S), September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2028, in which the ARS lab tests the… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Whole-grain sorghum foods and human trial (University of Nebraska–Lincoln) | USDA NIFA AFRI award 2025-67017-44770, $455,700, August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2029. | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Penn State I-Corps: biofortified maize and sorghum lines for food and beverage | NSF I-Corps award 2637103 to Surinder Chopra, $50,000, September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027, to assess the market for maize… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab (SMIL) protein sorghum project | International program developing improved-protein-quality sorghum hybrids for food use, within the K-State-led innovation lab. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| AICRP on Sorghum — India's coordinated network | The All India Coordinated Research Project on sorghum: 31 centres across 15 states per the institute, one of the world's… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| GRDC × UQ Sorghum Strategic Alliance | A national alliance (announced late 2025) between the grains R&D corporation and the University of Queensland targeting… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| Functional Sorghum Collective | Australian national initiative to grow domestic demand for sorghum in food and beverage markets, the market-development… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA NIFA | The federal agency funding competitive agricultural research, including small-business innovation programs (SBIR/STTR) that… | Funders & Programs · Federal | 2026-08-24 |
| US Department of Energy — Biological and Environmental Research | Funds sorghum genomics and bioenergy-crop research, including the Danforth Center's sorghum programs. | Funders & Programs · Federal | 2026-08-24 |
| United Sorghum Checkoff Program | The national producer-funded board that invests in sorghum research, market development, and new-use programs. | Funders & Programs · Checkoffs and state boards | 2026-08-24 |
| Bard's own checkoff contract — a disclosure | In 2021 the Checkoff contracted Bard's for a feasibility study: pilot production of specialty sorghum malt for commercial… | Funders & Programs · Checkoffs and state boards | — |
| Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission | State producer commission funding sorghum research and promotion in the largest US sorghum-producing state's orbit. | Funders & Programs · Checkoffs and state boards | 2026-08-24 |
| Texas Sorghum (Texas Grain Sorghum Association & Producers Board) | The Texas sorghum producer organizations supporting research, promotion, and information for the state's crop. | Funders & Programs · Checkoffs and state boards | 2026-08-24 |
| Pennsylvania Malt and Brewed Beverage Industry Promotion Program | State program funding up to $1M annually for promotion, marketing, and research that strengthens Pennsylvania's malt and… | Funders & Programs · State and foundation programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority (MASBDA) | Missouri's agricultural development authority, running value-added and development finance programs in Bard's home state. | Funders & Programs · State and foundation programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) | Non-profit foundation co-funding public-private agricultural research. | Funders & Programs · State and foundation programs | 2026-08-24 |
| USAID — Feed the Future | The named funder of the Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab at K-State, international-development money invested directly in… | Funders & Programs · State and foundation programs | 2026-10-17 |
| GRDC — Grains Research and Development Corporation (Australia) | The Australian grower-and-government grains R&D investor; | Funders & Programs · International | 2026-08-24 |
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Philanthropic funder whose money traceably appears in the Hy-Gain apomictic sorghum program, which concluded on 30 June 2026… | Funders & Programs · International | 2026-10-17 |
| ICAR — Indian Council of Agricultural Research | India's national agricultural research funder — runs the national millets institute and the coordinated sorghum research… | Funders & Programs · International | 2026-08-24 |
| The honest state of it: in the US, sorghum malt is barely being made or provided at commercial scale right now, and fixing that is part of why this site exists | Brewers can't buy what nobody malts; | Industry & Supply Chain | — |
| Lakefront Brewery — New Grist | (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). | Industry & Supply Chain · Who brews sorghum beer today | 2026-10-17 |
| Nigeria's brewing industry — sorghum lager at industrial scale | When 1980s legislation banned barley imports, Nigeria's breweries converted to local grain: Guinness Nigeria and the country's… | Industry & Supply Chain · Who brews sorghum beer today | 2026-08-24 |
| Green's | brewed at De Proefbrouwerij, Lochristi, Belgium. | Industry & Supply Chain · Who brews sorghum beer today | 2026-10-14 |
| Rebellion Brewing — O'Brien Beer | Wendouree, Victoria, Australia. | Industry & Supply Chain · Who brews sorghum beer today | 2026-10-14 |
| The era that started it | the first wave of US gluten-free beer — Bard's, the original craft sorghum beer, and Anheuser-Busch's Redbridge (which now… | Industry & Supply Chain · Who brews sorghum beer today | — |
| Deer Creek Malthouse | Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-10-14 |
| Voyager Craft Malt | Whitton, New South Wales, Australia. | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-10-14 |
| Everspring Farms Ltd | Ontario, Canada (expanded to Seaforth). | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-10-14 |
| Nexus Ingredient — MillMalt sorghum syrup | A commercial sorghum extract line marketed to gluten-free breweries: fermentables, enzymes, and flavor positioned as a… | Industry & Supply Chain · The extract supply that does exist | 2026-08-24 |
| A model for the chain | in 2020 the UNR breeding program announced a grain-to-glass plan with a seed company, a planned Nevada maltster (40 Mile Malt,… | Industry & Supply Chain · The extract supply that does exist | 2026-10-14 |
| Research spinning out into industry | Agrela Ecosystems, a sensor and field-phenotyping company co-founded by a Danforth Center sorghum scientist, is the kind of… | Industry & Supply Chain · The extract supply that does exist | 2026-08-24 |
| National Sorghum Producers | The US grower advocacy organization: policy, promotion, and the political voice of the crop. | Organizations & Events · Sorghum organizations | 2026-08-24 |
| Sorghum United | International NGO promoting sorghum and adjacent grains across food and industry uses. | Organizations & Events · Sorghum organizations | 2026-08-24 |
| Sorghum ID | The European sorghum interprofessional platform, running an EU-co-funded promotion campaign in more than a dozen languages. | Organizations & Events · Sorghum organizations | 2026-10-17 |
| Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America (SICNA) | In its own words, "a longstanding professional and scientific community dedicated to advancing sorghum research, improvement,… | Organizations & Events · Sorghum organizations | 2026-09-29 |
| U.S. Grains Council | The export-market organization, now styled the U.S. | Organizations & Events · Sorghum organizations | 2026-09-29 |
| Craft Maltsters Guild | The trade organization of the craft malting movement, the small-malthouse infrastructure any regional gluten-free grain chain… | Organizations & Events · Brewing and malting organizations | 2026-08-24 |
| American Society of Brewing Chemists | The North American body for brewing analytical methods, the methods framework any US sorghum malt specification would be… | Organizations & Events · Brewing and malting organizations | 2026-08-24 |
| Brewers Association | The US craft brewing trade association; | Organizations & Events · Brewing and malting organizations | 2026-08-24 |
| Global Sorghum Conference | The field's international gathering: researchers, producers, and industry in one place. | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| Craft Malt Month | The Guild's September spotlight on regional malting, the annual moment the craft-malt world is most visible. | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| Commodity Classic | The annual convention and trade show of America's corn, wheat, soybean, and sorghum industries: one gathering serving two of… | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| Sorghum State Podcast | Kansas Grain Sorghum's podcast bringing "leaders in industry, government, and academia" together on Kansas grain sorghum. | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-10-17 |
| Hy-Gain for smallholders (completed) | The Gates Foundation-funded University of Queensland program, led by Anna Koltunow, that developed apomictic sorghum, hybrids… | Literature & Datasets · Completed projects | 2026-10-17 |
1. Institutions — federal labs, universities, and international centers doing sorghum work23 entries
— Federal laboratories —
USDA-ARS Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit — Manhattan, Kansas. The federal lab closest to this site's subject: sorghum grain composition and how its components, especially proteins, determine end-use quality. Their published work spans sorghum protein chemistry, grain-quality measurement methods, and gluten-free food applications. Its 2025–2030 in-house project on sorghum end-use value carries a sub-objective on "development of fermented sorghum beverage", and the unit runs cooperative agreements with Texas Tech, Kansas State and Purdue on grain quality, kernel sorting and high-amylose lines; each is listed under Projects & Grants. Unit publications · project 448032 · Verified 2026-08-24; projects added 2026-10-17
USDA-ARS Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit — Tifton, Georgia. The southeastern federal breeding unit whose crop portfolio includes sweet sorghum among its grasses, the federal breeding presence nearest the southeastern sorghum question. Unit page · Verified 2026-08-24
USDA-ARS Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research Unit — Lincoln, Nebraska. The plains federal unit with sorghum in its name, breeding and genetics research for the crop's northern range. Unit page · Verified 2026-08-24
USDA-ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit — Madison, Wisconsin. The federal cereal-quality lab that produced the sorghum micro-malting screening this site republishes in full, the closest thing we have found to a public sorghum malting evaluation baseline. The unit's stated mission is barley and oat quality and germplasm, which is exactly why that screening matters: sorghum evaluated with barley-grade rigor. The unit has since published a low-cost benchtop malting protocol, developed for laboratory-scale barley (2025), and a case study applying a benchtop malting system to malt-quality screening of early-generation breeding lines (2026). Unit page · the screening, republished on this site · benchtop protocol, J. Cereal Science 2025 · early-generation screening case study, J. ASBC 2026 · Verified 2026-08-24; benchtop papers added 2026-10-17
USDA-ARS Crop Germplasm Research Unit — College Station, Texas. The federal unit whose sorghum research, in its own words, "emphasizes evaluation and enhancement of germplasm", within a mission that covers disease and insect resistance. Its plant pathologist co-authored the multi-environment Texas study in which environment, more than hybrid, decided how much germination grain weathering took. Unit page · the Texas weathering study · Verified 2026-09-29
— US universities —
Kansas State University — Manhattan, Kansas. Grain science, sorghum breeding, and the Center for Sorghum Improvement, embedded in the same campus ecosystem as the ARS unit above; also home base of the international Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab, whose USAID cooperative agreement ran 2013–2023 (see Projects). A K-State study malted and brewed named sorghum hybrids through a complete gluten-free ale — one of the primary documents behind our own published results pages, and two of its hybrids are cross-validated against the Madison screening we republish. Center for Sorghum Improvement · the K-State brewing study (open thesis) · the USAID award record · Verified 2026-08-24; award term added 2026-10-17
Penn State University. Two distinct sorghum-relevant threads. First, a funded gluten-free brewing research program with peer-reviewed publications on brewing procedures for gluten-free malts and starch behavior in gluten-free beers, process science on this site's exact subject. Second, a sorghum breeding effort developing enhanced-phytochemical lines aimed at food and beverage uses. Modified brewing procedure for GF malts · starch digestion in GF beers · Verified 2026-08-24
University of Nevada, Reno. Home of the most on-topic sorghum breeding effort in the country: a program breeding sorghum specifically for malting and brewing traits, with a public-release ethos. In 2020 UNR announced a grain-to-glass plan with seed, malting and brewing partners, naming 40 Mile Malt in Fallon, Nevada, as its planned maltster; we have found no published record of what the chain produced, and have not confirmed the maltster still operates: its domain no longer serves the company, and we have found no activity from it after 2020 (searched 2026-10-17). The program has grown some 400 sorghum varieties at UNR's Newlands Research Center in Fallon, screening them for traits including brewing use (2019). Also published DNA-fingerprinting work (2021) identifying sorghum sub-populations, genetic science underneath identity-preserved sourcing. The breeding project · UNR's announcement · the Fallon variety trials · sub-population fingerprinting study · Verified 2026-10-14; maltster status re-checked 2026-10-17
University of California, Davis. The malting and brewing science program, which collaborates with UNR on improving sorghum's malting potential and co-published the mechanism-level work on why sorghum ferments differently from barley. UC Davis Brewing Program · brewing research · Verified 2026-08-24
Texas A&M University. Sorghum breeding, including specialty food-grade lines that reached commercial retail and registered waxy-endosperm germplasm, plus long-running cereal quality and sorghum chemistry programs, and protein-quality hybrid development for food use. TAMU sorghum breeding in the news · Verified 2026-08-24
Purdue University. The sorghum protein digestibility program: the rapid assays that made screening for digestible sorghum practical, and the high-digestibility lines that later proved out in malting and fermentation research. Home of the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, starch structure-function science directly relevant to brewing. Whistler Center · the rapid digestibility assay · Verified 2026-08-24
University of Arkansas. Alternative-malt economics and flavor chemistry, the program behind the only peer-reviewed cost model we have found for a gluten-free base malt (rice), with a brewing certificate program behind it. Its rice malting work is already cited on this site's rice pages; the economics methodology has not, in anything we have found, been applied to sorghum. Program news · the rice-malt cost study · Verified 2026-08-24
Clemson University. Sorghum genetics work that screened diverse accessions for malt amylase activity, peer-reviewed evidence on why enzyme levels limit sorghum mashing and what breeding could do about it. The amylase screening study · Verified 2026-08-24
Texas Tech University. Sorghum crop physiology and agronomy, home of a $4.5 million, five-year USDA Advancing Markets for Producers grant aimed at sorghum's market position (announced August 2026), and host of the 2026 Global Sorghum Conference, held in Lubbock in September. TTU sorghum research · Verified 2026-08-24; USDA grant re-worded to its announcement 2026-10-17
Colorado State University. Sorghum adaptation genomics — including chilling-tolerance work that could expand the crop's viable growing regions northward, a direct input to where dedicated gluten-free sorghum supply could be grown — plus the Crops Testing Program's annual grain and forage sorghum variety trials across eastern Colorado. Chilling tolerance study · CSU Crops Testing · Verified 2026-08-24
University of Florida. Fermented-beverage flavor science: the lab behind the sorghum beer yeast-and-volatiles study whose data this site republishes, and the same group publishes parallel work on millet beer, one flavor lens across the gluten-free base grains. The volatiles study · Verified 2026-08-24
Coastal Carolina University — Department of Chemistry — Conway, South Carolina. The group behind two controlled studies comparing the aroma output of sorghum and barley beers, one of them in 2024; described on flavor and sensory and yeast and fermentation. The 2024 study · Verified 2026-08-26
— Independent and international centers —
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center — St. Louis, Missouri. The independent plant-science institute running federally funded sorghum genomics, phenotyping, and stress-resilience programs. Danforth Center sorghum news · Verified 2026-08-24
University of Pretoria — South Africa. The academic center of gravity for sorghum brewing science internationally; source of the field's canonical malting-and-brewing literature. Taylor, Dlamini & Kruger 2013 review · Verified 2026-08-24
CSIR — Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa. The historic home of industrial sorghum beer science: the CSIR-era research that first put sorghum malting quality on a laboratory footing. Its evaluation methods are documented on this site's research pages. Novellie / CSIR methods, documented on this site · CSIR · Verified 2026-08-24
University of Queensland — Australia. Three sorghum threads. The brewing proteomics group that co-published the mechanism paper on sorghum fermentability, identifying the enzyme behavior that separates sorghum from barley in the mash and fermenter. QAAFI's public sorghum pre-breeding program — genetics from it are in essentially all commercial sorghum grown in Australia — now scaled up through a national strategic research alliance targeting traits including protein content and quality. And Hy-Gain, the Gates-funded program that developed apomictic (self-reproducing hybrid) sorghum for smallholder farmers; per its site, it concluded on 30 June 2026. The fermentability study · QAAFI sorghum breeding · Hy-Gain · Verified 2026-08-24; Hy-Gain status updated 2026-10-17
Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences — Poland. The Department of Fermentation and Cereals Technology's gluten-free and alternative-substrate brewing group, including the peer-reviewed study brewing gluten-free beer from sorghum malts without external enzyme preparations, which found sorghum starch saccharified fully under decoction mashing. The sorghum-without-external-enzymes study · Verified 2026-08-24
ICAR — Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad. India's national institute for sorghum and the millets, basic and strategic sorghum research plus the national coordinated research network of one of the world's largest sorghum-producing countries. IIMR · Verified 2026-08-24
ICRISAT — International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. The global center for sorghum germplasm and improvement across the crop's home geographies; the deepest collection of sorghum genetic diversity in the world. ICRISAT · Verified 2026-08-24
2. Contributors — the researchers and breeders behind the work29 entries
— Grain quality & protein science —
Scott Bean — research chemist, USDA-ARS Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit, retired February 2026 after more than thirty years. Career subject: sorghum proteins and grain quality, including gluten-free applications. Publications · Verified 2026-09-08, per the unit's acting research leader by email
Kamaranga H.S. Peiris — formerly USDA-ARS Manhattan, retired 2026 and now working through Kansas State's Center for Sorghum Improvement, where he is building an online sample-submission route and continuing the NIR screening tools. Near-infrared spectroscopy methods for grain quality, the measurement science that makes rapid, non-destructive sorghum characterization practical. NIR protein method study · Verified 2026-09-08, per the unit's acting research leader by email
Michael Tilley — research chemist and acting research leader, USDA-ARS Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit, Manhattan. Cereal chemistry, including proteomic characterization of sorghum's kafirin storage proteins. Kafirin proteomics study · Verified 2026-09-08, per the unit's acting research leader by email
Bruce Hamaker — Purdue University. Sorghum protein digestibility, the assays and the high-digestibility lines that later proved out in malting and fermentation research; based at the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research. Rapid digestibility assay · Verified 2026-08-24
John R.N. Taylor — University of Pretoria. The most-cited author in sorghum malting and brewing; his corpus is the field's foundation. Representative review (2013) · Verified 2026-08-24
Joseph Awika — Texas A&M. Sorghum chemistry and health-focused food science; leads protein-quality sorghum development for food applications. TAMU scholar profile · Verified 2026-08-24
— Breeding & genomics —
Melinda Yerka — sorghum breeder, University of Nevada, Reno. Leads the UNR project evaluating grain sorghum production environments for craft malting and brewing. Project record · Verified 2026-08-24 Disclosure: Bard's worked with this program from 2020 to 2025 and, in May 2021, signed a letter of support for the USDA proposal behind its malting work — funded, the program told us that October, at $800,000. We cite it as research we helped bring about, not as an independent finding.
John Baggett — University of Nevada, Reno. First author of the DNA-fingerprinting study verifying sorghum cultivar identity, the genetic method beneath identity-preserved grain. The fingerprinting study · Verified 2026-08-24 · Same program as the entry above; the disclosure there applies. We have not traced this paper's own funding.
William Rooney — sorghum breeder, Texas A&M. Specialty and food-grade sorghum lines, including waxy-endosperm germplasm. Breeding program coverage · Verified 2026-08-24
Tesfaye Tesso — professor of sorghum breeding and genetics, Kansas State University. Improvement of grain sorghum as an alternative food and feed source; trained under Tuinstra at K-State and Hamaker at Purdue, the protein-digestibility lineage in person. Faculty profile · Verified 2026-08-24
Mitch Tuinstra — Wickersham Chair and professor of plant breeding and genetics, Purdue University. Climate-resilient sorghum and maize genetics; co-author of the cultivar-level tannin variability work directly relevant to brewing character. Faculty profile · the tannin work, via ARS publications · Verified 2026-08-24
Richard Boyles — associate professor of cereal grains breeding and genetics, Clemson University (Pee Dee Research and Education Center). Co-author of the diverse-accession malt amylase screening, breeding cereal grains for the southeastern US. Faculty profile · the amylase study · Verified 2026-08-24
Stephen Kresovich — Clemson University. Sorghum genomics; senior author in the lineage behind the malt amylase diversity screening. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Geoffrey Morris — Colorado State University. Sorghum adaptation genomics, including chilling tolerance for northern expansion. Chilling tolerance study · Verified 2026-08-24
Surinder Chopra — Penn State. Sorghum genetics; develops enhanced-phytochemical colored-sorghum lines aimed at food and beverage markets. Faculty profile · Verified 2026-08-24
David Jordan — University of Queensland (QAAFI). Leads Australia's public sorghum pre-breeding program, a UQ–Queensland DAF–GRDC partnership whose genetics underpin essentially all Australian commercial sorghum. QAAFI profile · Verified 2026-08-24
Nadia Shakoor — Danforth Plant Science Center. Sorghum genetics and field phenotyping; led major multi-institutional sorghum genomics and sensor-phenotyping programs. Danforth profile · Verified 2026-08-24
Anna Koltunow — University of Queensland (QAAFI). Led the Gates-funded Hy-Gain program (concluded June 2026), which developed apomictic sorghum, hybrids whose seed smallholders can save and replant. QAAFI profile · Hy-Gain · Verified 2026-10-17
— Malting & brewing science —
Katherine Thompson-Witrick — University of Florida, Food Science and Human Nutrition. Fermented-beverage flavor chemistry; her lab's sorghum beer volatiles study is republished as data on this site, with parallel published work on millet beer. The volatiles study · Verified 2026-08-24
Glen Fox — malting and brewing science, UC Davis. Published the mechanism-level explanation of sorghum fermentability and the field's central review of quality variation in malting and brewing grains; engaged with the craft malting movement. Profile · the fermentability study · Craft Maltsters Guild feature · Verified 2026-08-24
Scott Lafontaine — University of Arkansas. Flavor chemistry and alternative-malt economics; built the only peer-reviewed gluten-free base-malt cost model we have found (rice), methodology unapplied to sorghum so far. His group's rice malting work is already cited on this site's rice pages. Program news · the cost study · Verified 2026-08-24
Cockburn, Elias & Hopfer — the Penn State gluten-free brewing research group: brewing procedures for gluten-free malts, starch digestion in gluten-free beers, and flavor science. Beverages 2021 · Food Bioscience 2024 · Verified 2026-08-24
Joanna Kawa-Rygielska & Alan Gasiński — Wrocław's Department of Fermentation and Cereals Technology: the authors of the sorghum-without-external-enzymes brewing study, within a broader gluten-free and alternative-substrate research program. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Steve Carly Zangue Desobgo — brewing process engineering; author of the field's current comprehensive textbook on sorghum brewing. Brewing with Sorghum (Elsevier, 2025) · Verified 2026-08-24
— Agronomy & crop systems —
S.V. Krishna Jagadish — Thornton Distinguished Chair, Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University. Sorghum crop physiology, stress resilience, and sustainable cropping systems on the High Plains; took the lead on a Sorghum Checkoff-funded TTU project in 2022. Faculty profile · TTU sorghum research · Verified 2026-08-24
— Grain mold, weathering & growing environment —
Louis Prom — research plant pathologist, USDA-ARS Crop Germplasm Research, College Station, Texas. Co-author of the multi-environment Texas study of grain weathering and fungal communities on waxy and non-waxy hybrids, where environment explained more of the variation in germination than genotype did. Profile · The study · Verified 2026-09-29
Thomas Isakeit — professor and extension specialist, Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension; his listed specializations include sorghum and mycotoxins. First author of the first report of sorghum ergot in the United States, from the 1997 Rio Grande Valley outbreak. Profile · The ergot report · Verified 2026-09-29
Donghai Wang — professor, Carl and Melinda Helwig Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University. Bioconversion of starch feedstocks, sorghum among them, into fuels and chemicals; senior author of the 2008 study in which growing location shifted grain starch and protein across Kansas and Texas sites and irrigation didn't. Profile · The study · Verified 2026-09-29
— Industry contributors —
Craig Belser — Bard's Tale Beer Company. Founder and brewer of the original craft sorghum beer: the commercial proof, two decades ago, that sorghum could carry a beer on its own, and the production experience this site is built on. Disclosure: this site's own founding story. Bard's story · about Craig · Verified 2026-08-24
3. Projects & Grants — funded work in flight right now19 entries
UNR sorghum for malting and brewing. The UNR project evaluating how production environments affect grain sorghum during craft malting and brewing, the western-US supply question, studied directly. Its USDA NIFA award (2022-67014-36208) ended on April 30, 2026, per USAspending, so the funded phase is no longer in flight; we have not confirmed an extension or later output. When its results are published they move to Literature. Project record · USAspending award record · Verified 2026-08-24; award end date added 2026-10-17
UC Davis × UNR sorghum malting collaboration. Joint work on improving the malting potential of sorghum, connecting a breeding program to a brewing science program. UC Davis brewing research · Verified 2026-08-24
Penn State gluten-free brewing program. Peer-reviewed output on gluten-free malt brewing procedures, starch digestion in gluten-free beers, and fermentation character. Beverages 2021 · Food Bioscience 2024 · Verified 2026-08-24
Center for Sorghum Improvement. The K-State-anchored sorghum improvement platform funding work on sorghum yield, demand, and value traits. The center · Verified 2026-08-24
Texas Tech sorghum markets grant (USDA). A $4.5 million, five-year USDA Advancing Markets for Producers grant to an interdisciplinary team directed by Krishna Jagadish, aimed at sorghum's market position; the announcement does not address malting or brewing. TTU announcement, 2026-08-05 · Verified 2026-10-17
Texas Tech Checkoff-funded sorghum project. A $1.6 million, five-year Sorghum Checkoff project announced October 2022, "Transforming grain sorghum's climatic yield potential and grain quality through trait-based ideotype breeding", led by Krishna Jagadish with Texas A&M, Kansas State and USDA-ARS at Lubbock and Manhattan: checkoff dollars traceably at work in a listed institution. TTU announcement, Oct 2022 · Verified 2026-10-17
Clemson eastern-US sorghum hybrids project. USDA NIFA AFRI award 2026-67014-45815, $495,000, through January 2029, to Rick Boyles at Clemson's Pee Dee Research and Education Center, for higher-yielding, disease-resistant sorghum hybrids for southeastern growers: new regional supply genetics in flight. Clemson announcement, 2026-03-23 · Verified 2026-10-17
Danforth Center sorghum resilience programs. Federally funded multi-institutional sorghum genomics and stress-resilience research, including a DOE Biological and Environmental Research award announced December 10, 2025: $2.5 million over three years under "Genomics-Enabled Understanding and Advancing Knowledge on Plant Gene Function", led by Andrea Eveland with the University of Arizona and Saint Louis University. Danforth announcement · Verified 2026-08-24; DOE award details added 2026-10-17
USDA-ARS project 448032: sorghum end-use value, including a fermented-beverage objective. The Manhattan, Kansas Grain Quality and Structure Research unit's in-house project "Interactions Among Physical Grain Traits, Chemistry, and Cooking and Processing Techniques on Sorghum End-use Value" (3020-30600-002-000-D, National Program 306), running April 13, 2025 to April 12, 2030. Its objectives on the record cover the relationship between grain structure, protein cross-linking and starch gelatinization; how cooking and heat processing affect phenolics; single-kernel NIR calibrations for grain composition; and, as Subobjective 1.C, "Development of fermented sorghum beverage." The project page names no lead scientist. ARS project record · Verified 2026-10-17
USDA-ARS × Texas Tech: improvement in sorghum end-use quality and value. An ARS cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-024-A) run from the Manhattan Grain Quality and Structure Research unit, with Texas Tech University System as recipient on USAspending: $450,000, September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2028. It aims to identify genes governing kernel physical properties, starch, protein, fat and lysine, working from a library of mutants in candidate genes, and to develop markers so breeders can target "specific grain quality profiles". Neither record names a principal investigator. ARS project record · USAspending award record · Verified 2026-10-17
STRAIT network grain-quality phenotyping (USDA-ARS × Kansas State). A non-assistance cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-039-S), May 26, 2026 to May 25, 2029, naming Sarah Sexton-Bowser (K-State) as PI, who will use the Sorghum Trait (STRAIT) Coordination Innovation Network of public and private breeders. It screens quality attributes in breeding materials and shared mapping panels and advances high-throughput grain-quality measurement, toward quality-trait sorghums that "improve profitability and grain marketing of sorghums in local and regional markets". ARS project record · Verified 2026-10-17
Single-kernel NIR sorting of grain sorghum (USDA-ARS × Kansas State). A cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-040-S), May 26, 2026 to May 25, 2029, studying what sorting kernels by protein or starch content does to processing, functionality and application quality, and continuing calibration models for protein, starch and amylose using samples from breeders, farmers and other stakeholders. ARS project record · Verified 2026-10-17
High-amylose sorghum lines and NIR starch detection (USDA-ARS × Purdue). A cooperative agreement (3020-30600-002-029-S), September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2028, in which the ARS lab tests the application functionality of high-amylose sorghum lines from Dr. Tuinstra's Purdue program and improves single-kernel NIR models for amylose and amylopectin. ARS project record · Verified 2026-10-17
Whole-grain sorghum foods and human trial (University of Nebraska–Lincoln). USDA NIFA AFRI award 2025-67017-44770, $455,700, August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2029. The work first develops gluten-free cereal, cracker and grain-pouch products from whole-grain sumac sorghum (high phenolic) and white sorghum (low phenolic), with white rice as the control, then tests them in a clinical trial of adults with excess body weight, measuring health and gut-microbe outcomes. The trial is registered as NCT07832071, which cites the NIFA grant number, and is listed as not yet recruiting, with an estimated start of October 2026 and primary completion of September 2028. Trade coverage reports the study as co-funded by the Sorghum Checkoff with USDA's AFRI Commodity Board program. USAspending award record · ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07832071 · Snack & Bakery, Sep 15 2025 · Verified 2026-10-17
Penn State I-Corps: biofortified maize and sorghum lines for food and beverage. NSF I-Corps award 2637103 to Surinder Chopra, $50,000, September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027, to assess the market for maize and sorghum breeding lines that combine agronomic yield with elevated phenolic and anthocyanin profiles; the abstract frames that market as the "food and beverage industry". A market-discovery award, not brewing research. NSF award 2637103 · Verified 2026-10-17
Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab (SMIL) protein sorghum project. International program developing improved-protein-quality sorghum hybrids for food use, within the K-State-led innovation lab. The lab's USAID cooperative agreement, "Sorghum and Millet Research Program" (AID-OAA-A-13-00047), ran from July 23, 2013 to July 21, 2023, with $27,698,175 obligated per USAspending. The lab's site now presents the work as the Global Collaboration on Sorghum and Millet; we have not confirmed the current funding behind it. Project page · USAspending award record · Verified 2026-08-24; award term added 2026-10-17
Hy-Gain, the Gates-funded apomictic sorghum program, concluded on 30 June 2026 and now sits under Literature.
AICRP on Sorghum — India's coordinated network. The All India Coordinated Research Project on sorghum: 31 centres across 15 states per the institute, one of the world's largest coordinated sorghum research systems. IIMR · Verified 2026-08-24
GRDC × UQ Sorghum Strategic Alliance. A national alliance (announced late 2025) between the grains R&D corporation and the University of Queensland targeting resilience, productivity, and quality — explicitly including protein content and quality. Alliance announcement · Verified 2026-08-24
Functional Sorghum Collective. Australian national initiative to grow domestic demand for sorghum in food and beverage markets, the market-development counterpart to the breeding alliance above, and the closest international parallel to this site's own thesis. Program coverage · Verified 2026-08-24
4. Funders & Programs — who pays for sorghum research (described, never endorsed)12 entries
— Federal —
USDA NIFA. The federal agency funding competitive agricultural research, including small-business innovation programs (SBIR/STTR) that have funded alternative-grain and brewing-adjacent work. NIFA · Verified 2026-08-24
US Department of Energy — Biological and Environmental Research. Funds sorghum genomics and bioenergy-crop research, including the Danforth Center's sorghum programs. DOE BER · Verified 2026-08-24
— Checkoffs and state boards —
United Sorghum Checkoff Program. The national producer-funded board that invests in sorghum research, market development, and new-use programs. It publishes its funded projects as a table of description, fiscal year, program area, entity and amount, running from FY2009 to FY2023 when read on 2026-10-17, and states $46,625,156 invested; the same page says it "will not be seeking pre-proposals" this year while it evaluates past funded research. Sorghum Checkoff · funded research table · Verified 2026-08-24; funded-projects table added 2026-10-17
Bard's own checkoff contract — a disclosure. In 2021 the Checkoff contracted Bard's for a feasibility study: pilot production of specialty sorghum malt for commercial quality acceptance ($24,970). So where this site says no funder owns the brewing question, it means teff and fonio. For sorghum, Bard's was itself paid to work on it, and signed a letter of support on the $800,000 USDA award to the University of Nevada program listed under Breeding & genomics above.
Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission. State producer commission funding sorghum research and promotion in the largest US sorghum-producing state's orbit. Commission · Verified 2026-08-24
Texas Sorghum (Texas Grain Sorghum Association & Producers Board). The Texas sorghum producer organizations supporting research, promotion, and information for the state's crop. Texas Sorghum · Verified 2026-08-24
— State and foundation programs —
Pennsylvania Malt and Brewed Beverage Industry Promotion Program. State program funding up to $1M annually for promotion, marketing, and research that strengthens Pennsylvania's malt and brewed beverage industries, the program family behind Pennsylvania's funded gluten-free brewing research. Annual request for proposals, typically published each January. Program page · Verified 2026-08-24
Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority (MASBDA). Missouri's agricultural development authority, running value-added and development finance programs in Bard's home state. MASBDA · Verified 2026-08-24
Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR). Non-profit foundation co-funding public-private agricultural research. FFAR · Verified 2026-08-24
USAID — Feed the Future. The named funder of the Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab at K-State, international-development money invested directly in US-led sorghum research: cooperative agreement AID-OAA-A-13-00047, July 23, 2013 to July 21, 2023, with $27,698,175 obligated per USAspending. The lab · the award record · Verified 2026-10-17
— International —
GRDC — Grains Research and Development Corporation (Australia). The Australian grower-and-government grains R&D investor; funds the national sorghum pre-breeding program and the Sorghum Strategic Alliance, and sponsors the Global Sorghum Conference. GRDC · Verified 2026-08-24
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Philanthropic funder whose money traceably appears in the Hy-Gain apomictic sorghum program, which concluded on 30 June 2026 and is listed under Literature. Hy-Gain · Verified 2026-10-17
ICAR — Indian Council of Agricultural Research. India's national agricultural research funder — runs the national millets institute and the coordinated sorghum research network listed above. IIMR · Verified 2026-08-24
5. Industry & Supply Chain — the state of sorghum malt supply, and where to start11 entries
The honest state of it: in the US, sorghum malt is barely being made or provided at commercial scale right now, and fixing that is part of why this site exists. Brewers can't buy what nobody malts; maltsters won't malt what nobody has proven they'll buy. Breaking that loop takes documented demand, documented standards, and working regional chains — the things this site's pages are built around.
— Who brews sorghum beer today —
Lakefront Brewery — New Grist (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). A barley brewery's gluten-free line, which it says is "brewed without wheat or barley" on sorghum, rice extract and malted millet; by Lakefront's own account it was "the first gluten-free beer given approval by the US government for production." The line now runs to New Grist, a Radler and an IPA. The page shows the GFCO logo; it says nothing about separate brewing equipment or testing. One of the two founding beers of the category, alongside Bard's. Lakefront's 2009 patent application on a syrup-route gluten-free beer is listed under Literature. New Grist · Verified 2026-10-17
Nigeria's brewing industry — sorghum lager at industrial scale. When 1980s legislation banned barley imports, Nigeria's breweries converted to local grain: Guinness Nigeria and the country's major brewers produce sorghum-based lagers and stouts today, run contract-grower schemes for improved brewing cultivars, and operate commercial sorghum malting — proof, at national scale, that both sorghum brewing and a sorghum malt supply chain work when demand exists. The malting layer has names: Food, Agro & Allied Industries, a Sona Group subsidiary at Sango-Otta, processes raw sorghum into sorghum malt and malt extract, and Nigerian Breweries operates its own sorghum malting plant at Aba — stated capacity 35,000 tons of raw sorghum a year — behind a ₦78-billion, five-year smallholder program covering its local raw materials. Guinness Nigeria · Food, Agro & Allied Industries (Marketing Edge, 2021) · Nigerian Breweries' program · Verified 2026-08-24; Food, Agro & Allied source replaced 2026-10-16 (its own site is offline)
Green's — brewed at De Proefbrouwerij, Lochristi, Belgium. A gluten-free beer brand, established 2004, that states it "brews gluten-free from the start" on "sorghum, millet, brown rice, and buckwheat," and that its beers are "certified through the National Celiac Association's Gluten-Free Food Program." Its range runs to an Amber Ale, Tripel, Dubbel, Dry-Hopped Lager and India Pale Ale, carried in the US by Merchant du Vin. On this map for a four-grain grist (sorghum, millet, rice and buckwheat together) brewed under contract. Green's · Merchant du Vin · subjects: sorghum, millet, buckwheat, rice · Verified 2026-10-14
Rebellion Brewing — O'Brien Beer — Wendouree, Victoria, Australia. The brewery behind O'Brien Beer, which it describes as "always 100% gluten free beer," brewed from ancient grains "such as sorghum and millet," and which dates its commercial brewing to August 2005. By its own account the beer's malted grains were developed with "local Aussie farmers," which puts a locally sourced sorghum and millet malt route behind an Australian gluten-free brewery. O'Brien Beer · Our story · subjects: sorghum, millet · Verified 2026-10-14
The era that started it: the first wave of US gluten-free beer — Bard's, the original craft sorghum beer, and Anheuser-Busch's Redbridge (which now appears to be out of production) — was brewed on sorghum because sorghum was where gluten-free brewing began. The malt supply chain that era needed was never built; this directory's research gaps section is about exactly that.
— The malt —
Deer Creek Malthouse — Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. A craft malthouse founded in 2012, by its own account "Pennsylvania's first malthouse since prohibition," whose malt list carries pale sorghum, buckwheat and corn malts beside rye and spelt malts. The sorghum malt is made "with locally grown white and red sorghum seasonally" and sold whole kernel, coarse ground, stone-ground or smoked, in bags from 1.5 to 55 lb: one of the few whole-grain sorghum malts we have found offered as a US catalog item. The site tags these products "gluten free" and makes no dedicated-facility, testing or certification statement; the same malthouse malts rye and spelt. Pale Sorghum Malt · the malt list · about · subjects: sorghum, buckwheat · Verified 2026-10-14
Voyager Craft Malt — Whitton, New South Wales, Australia. An on-farm barley malthouse offering contract and toll malting from grain receival and testing through cleaning, sprouting, malting, kilning, roasting and packaging, in batches it gives as 400 kg to 40 tonnes. Its services page lists a Munich sorghum malt among its collaborative products and custom bulk bags of a smoked millet malt, and its homepage refers to "the sprouting of gluten free grains such as millet or buckwheat." A shared barley facility: it makes no gluten-free claim for its malt, stating HACCP approval and organic certification. On this map because it publicly lists sorghum and millet malt made under contract. Services · the malthouse · subjects: sorghum, millet · Verified 2026-10-14
Everspring Farms Ltd — Ontario, Canada (expanded to Seaforth). A sprouted-grain processor that says it sprouts, mills, blends, cracks and packages more than 30 grains, seeds and beans, and lists sprouted sorghum, sprouted millet and sprouted buckwheat in conventional and certified-organic grades, in 50 lb bags to 2,000 lb totes with a 250 lb minimum. It states it runs two facilities, one of them a 75,000-square-foot site "dedicated gluten, dairy and nut free," with gluten production handled in a segregated processing area; the company also sells wheat, rye, spelt and sprouted oat products, and names GFSI, organic and kosher certification for both facilities but no gluten-free certification. Sprouted, not malted: its pages describe soaking and germination and offer no kilned malt or brewing product. On this map as a commercial germination operation running gluten-free grains, with one of its two facilities described as gluten-free. About and facilities · sprouting · sprouted sorghum · sprouted millet · sprouted buckwheat · subjects: sorghum, millet, buckwheat · Verified 2026-10-14
— The grain, the seed and the growers —
Farms, grain sellers and seed holders with a public sorghum offering are described on the role pages that own them; one line each here, every one verified 2026-10-17 against its own page or registry record. Gluten-free statuses are the companies' own.
- Desert Oasis Teff & Grain — Fallon, Nevada. A teff farm whose own shop also lists sorghum grain and sorghum flour; it does not say where the sorghum is grown. Growers
- Revival Mill & Bread Co. — Texas Panhandle. A stone mill selling whole white sorghum berries from "a single research farm in Vega, Texas"; by its own account a shared facility that also handles wheat. Suppliers
- Shiloh Farms — United States. An organic whole-foods packer selling US-grown organic whole-grain white sorghum, packed in a facility that also handles wheat; it is "not testing or certifying any product as gluten free." Suppliers
- Western Foods — Woodland, California, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. A grain and flour manufacturer established in 2010, by its own account, "as a gluten-free ingredient manufacturer", selling sorghum flour wholesale; its pages do not say whether either plant is dedicated gluten-free. Suppliers
- NPSAS Farm Breeding Club (Farm Breeder Network) — Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, Frederick, South Dakota. A farmer breeding network whose sorghum project evaluates 106 early-maturing, cold-tolerant white sorghum cultivars for northern-tier states, aiming at "a viable, high-value, gluten-free food grain." Breeders
- Warner Seeds, Inc. — Hereford, Texas. A sorghum seed company founded in 1965 that acquired the Sorghum Partners brand and germplasm from S&W Seed Company; its site names no white or food-grade grain hybrids. Breeders
— The extract supply that does exist —
Commercial sorghum extract lines exist from barley-house maltsters. Where to Get Sorghum Malt carries the supplier landscape, and the truly-gluten-free verification questions apply in full to any product from a facility that also handles gluten grain.
Nexus Ingredient — MillMalt sorghum syrup. A commercial sorghum extract line marketed to gluten-free breweries: fermentables, enzymes, and flavor positioned as a barley-malt replacement. MillMalt for brewing · Verified 2026-08-24
Resources to start from, verification-first:
- Malthouses that run gluten-free
- Where to get sorghum malt
- Finding a contract craft maltster
- Sourcing sorghum farmer-direct
- Third-party testing resources
A model for the chain: in 2020 the UNR breeding program announced a grain-to-glass plan with a seed company, a planned Nevada maltster (40 Mile Malt, Fallon) and a Reno brewery, a university-documented outline of exactly the regional supply structure gluten-free brewing needs. It is a plan on the record; we have found no published account of what it produced. UNR's account of the chain · Verified 2026-10-14
Research spinning out into industry: Agrela Ecosystems, a sensor and field-phenotyping company co-founded by a Danforth Center sorghum scientist, is the kind of research-to-commercial crossover the sorghum data world is starting to produce. Danforth's account · Verified 2026-08-24
6. Organizations & Events — trade bodies, standards organizations, and the field's calendar12 entries
— Sorghum organizations —
National Sorghum Producers. The US grower advocacy organization: policy, promotion, and the political voice of the crop. NSP · Verified 2026-08-24
Sorghum United. International NGO promoting sorghum and adjacent grains across food and industry uses. Sorghum United · Verified 2026-08-24
Sorghum ID. The European sorghum interprofessional platform, running an EU-co-funded promotion campaign in more than a dozen languages. On food uses it describes sorghum as gluten-free and says it "plays an increasingly prominent part in Europe's breweries". It runs a recurring European sorghum congress, with editions in 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2025. Sorghum ID · food opportunities page · Verified 2026-10-17
Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America (SICNA). In its own words, "a longstanding professional and scientific community dedicated to advancing sorghum research, improvement, and collaboration across North America." It traditionally meets every two years, and partnered with the 2026 Global Sorghum Conference rather than meeting alone. SICNA · Verified 2026-09-29
U.S. Grains Council. The export-market organization, now styled the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council, that publishes the annual US sorghum quality report: elevator samples that by its account represent "nearly 100 percent of all U.S. sorghum exports," reported for the US aggregate. Its 2016 harvest report carried aflatoxin and DON results. Sorghum reports · Verified 2026-09-29
— Brewing and malting organizations —
Craft Maltsters Guild. The trade organization of the craft malting movement, the small-malthouse infrastructure any regional gluten-free grain chain would run through. Runs Craft Malt Month each September, a conference now branded MaltCon, and the Malt Cup competition; its events menu lists "MaltCon," with no date, beside the "2027 Malt Cup." Guild · events · Verified 2026-08-24; conference name updated 2026-10-17; MaltCon and Malt Cup wording corrected 2026-10-17
American Society of Brewing Chemists. The North American body for brewing analytical methods, the methods framework any US sorghum malt specification would be written against. ASBC · Verified 2026-08-24
Brewers Association. The US craft brewing trade association; its Great American Beer Festival judges dedicated gluten-free beer categories, the competitive proving ground for sorghum-based beer. Brewers Association · competitions with gluten-free categories, on this site · Verified 2026-08-24
— The field's calendar —
Global Sorghum Conference. The field's international gathering: researchers, producers, and industry in one place. The 2026 conference was held September 14–18 in Lubbock, Texas, hosted by Texas Tech and sponsored by the Sorghum Checkoff, National Sorghum Producers, and GRDC — four organizations listed elsewhere in this directory, at one event. Its page now thanks attendees and carries the conference archive. Conference · Verified 2026-08-24; tense updated 2026-10-17
Craft Malt Month. The Guild's September spotlight on regional malting, the annual moment the craft-malt world is most visible. Guild · Verified 2026-08-24
Commodity Classic. The annual convention and trade show of America's corn, wheat, soybean, and sorghum industries: one gathering serving two of this directory family's grains, described on corn. Commodity Classic · Verified 2026-08-24
Sorghum State Podcast. Kansas Grain Sorghum's podcast bringing "leaders in industry, government, and academia" together on Kansas grain sorghum. Its feed holds 53 episodes, from April 2022 to August 31, 2026; recent episodes cover the Center for Sorghum Improvement's "CSIP 2.0" and an outbound China trade mission. Feed · Apple listing · Verified 2026-10-17
— Standards and methods bodies —
The organizations whose analytical methods define how sorghum malt is measured, each documented in detail on this site's evaluation-methods pages:
- SABS — South African Bureau of Standards. Publisher of SANS 235, the only national sorghum malt standard we have identified. Our SANS 235 page · SABS · Verified 2026-08-24
- Institute of Brewing & European Brewery Convention. The brewing world's analytical method bodies; their methods, adapted for sorghum, are documented on our pages. Our IoB/EBC methods page · Verified 2026-08-24
- CSIR (South Africa). The historic sorghum beer research institution. See its entry under Institutions. Our Novellie/CSIR methods page · Verified 2026-08-24
- USDA FGIS — United States Standards for Sorghum. The federal grading standard and its four classes: Sorghum, Tannin sorghum, White sorghum and Mixed sorghum, with White sorghum set at 98% white-pericarp kernels and no pigmented testa. 7 CFR 810.1402 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Grain Trade Australia — Sorghum Trading Standards. Australia's trade receival standards for sorghum; the 2026/27 season edition, in force from August 1, 2026, sets grades CSG-1 and CSG-2 with reference methods for moisture, protein and test weight, defects, a sprouted-grain tolerance, a grain temperature limit out of the dryer and a sorghum-ergot limit. CSG-1 sets moisture at 13.5% maximum, sprouted grain at 3.0%, sorghum ergot at 0.3% by weight and grain temperature ex dryer at 35 °C. GTA · 2026/27 standard (PDF) · Verified 2026-10-17
- Codex Alimentarius — Sorghum Grains (CXS 172-1989) and Sorghum Flour (CXS 173-1989). The international food standards for sorghum grain and flour, with moisture, defect and tannin ceilings; the grain standard sets moisture at 14.5% m/m maximum and tannin at 0.5% dry matter for whole grain and 0.3% for decorticated grain. CXS 172 · CXS 173 · Verified 2026-10-17
- East African Community — EAS 757:2011, Sorghum grains: Specification. The regional food-grain standard, with grades for moisture, test weight, foreign matter, defects and aflatoxin; it sets moisture at 13% maximum and tannin at 0.5% dry mass for whole grain and 0.3% for decorticated grain, determined by ISO 9648. EAS 757:2011 · Verified 2026-10-17
- ISO 9648:1988 — Sorghum: Determination of tannin content. The international tannin assay that EAS 757 cites. Catalogue record (AFNOR) · Verified 2026-10-17
- South Africa — Grading Regulations for Sorghum (Government Notice No. R.15, 8 January 2016). The national grading regulation names malting in its classes: Regulation 4 classifies a consignment as Class GM if it "consists of malt sorghum that does not have a dark testa", and as Class GH if it is malt sorghum with a dark testa; for grading, the Southern African Grain Laboratory (SAGL) detects tannin with the bleach test. The regulation is reproduced in SAGL's annual crop quality report (under Public datasets). SAGL 2024/25 report (regulation on pp. 38–48) · Verified 2026-10-17
- ARVALIS – Institut du végétal (France): tannin in French grain sorghum. A variety enters the French Official Catalogue only if its tannin is below 0.30% of dry matter, a limit in force since the 1990s; BioGEVES measures it by ISO 9648, the method the CTPS registration process uses; a 2010 survey of 18 silo samples averaged 0.21% DM. The article dates from 22 November 2011, so read it as the rule and one survey, not current levels. ARVALIS · Verified 2026-10-17
For celiac and gluten-free community organizations, see Celiac organizations.
7. Literature & Datasets — the anchor works, the methods, and the published data
— Anchor works — the shortest honest reading list for sorghum brewing science:
- Ratnavathi & Chavan — Malting and Brewing of Sorghum — an academic chapter, in Sorghum Biochemistry (2016). Link
- Fox & Bettenhausen — Variation in Quality of Grains Used in Malting and Brewing — the field's review of what actually varies in brewing grains and why it matters. Frontiers in Plant Science 2023 · Open copy · Verified 2026-10-17
- Kerr, Fox & Schulz — an abundant α-glucosidase drives sorghum fermentability — the mechanism paper on why sorghum ferments differently. Open copy
- Desobgo — Brewing with Sorghum — the current comprehensive textbook. Publisher
- Veith — the K-State brewing study — named hybrids malted and brewed through a complete gluten-free ale. Open thesis
- Mugode et al. — high-digestibility sorghum and free amino nitrogen — connecting protein digestibility genetics to sorghum's central fermentation bottleneck. J. Inst. Brewing 2011
- Mezgebe, Abegaz & Taylor — waxy and high-digestibility traits and malting quality — the trait-level evidence for what makes better malting sorghum. J. Cereal Science 2018
- Disharoon et al. — diverse sorghum accessions and malt amylase activity — why enzyme levels limit sorghum mashing, screened across the diversity panel. J. Inst. Brewing 2021 · the Clemson MS thesis behind it, 2020 · Verified 2026-10-16
- Dewar — Endogenous and exogenous factors involved in sorghum germination with reference to malting — the University of Natal PhD behind the Dewar–Taylor malting papers; malt quality improved with longer steeping, moderate steep temperatures and aeration, and gibberellic acid applied late in steep or early in germination improved it further (repository abstract). Open thesis, 1997 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Three decades of genetic gain in India's rainfed sorghum — the open assessment of the world's largest coordinated program's yield and grain-quality progress. Frontiers in Plant Science 2022
— Where it grows, and what that does to the grain — the growing-region evidence read together on Where to Grow Sorghum for Malt:
- van Loggerenberg & Pretorius — sorghum malting quality across seasons and localities — South Africa's national cultivar trials malted over five seasons at three localities each; season moved diastatic power more than locality or cultivar did. S. Afr. J. Plant & Soil 2004 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Kent, Prom & Rooney — grain weathering across Texas environments — waxy and non-waxy hybrids in four environments; environment explained more of the variation in germination and weathering loss than genotype. Crop Science 2022 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Kaufman et al. — genotype × location and grain chemistry — 19 genotypes at three Kansas locations; kernel size, hardness and amylose moved with location. Agronomy Journal 2018 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Wu et al. — growing location, irrigation and ethanol yield — nine cultivars at two Kansas sites and one in Texas; location shifted starch and protein, irrigation didn't. Cereal Chemistry 2008 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Thakur et al. — Sorghum Grain Mold — ICRISAT's bulletin on the grain-mold complex: the humid flowering-to-harvest conditions that drive it, weathering, germination loss, and resistance from a pigmented testa. ICRISAT Information Bulletin 72, 2006 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Isakeit, Odvody & Shelby; Workneh & Rush — sorghum ergot in the United States — the 1997 first report from the Rio Grande Valley, and the Texas Panhandle follow-up tying ergot years to cool, wet early Augusts. Plant Disease 1998 · Phytopathology 2002 · Verified 2026-09-29
- Shotwell et al. — mycotoxins in US grain sorghum, 1975–76 crops — 197 samples from 10 states; zearalenone in 28%, aflatoxin in four. J. AOAC 1980 · Verified 2026-09-29
— Growing-region records — the federal data behind the same page:
- USDA FGIS export grain inspection data. Certificate-level export inspections by grain class and port, with aflatoxin and DON results where tested. Yearly files · Verified 2026-09-29
- USDA RMA Summary of Business and Cause of Loss files. Crop-insurance records by state, county, crop, type and cause of loss, including mycotoxin claims on grain sorghum. RMA data · Verified 2026-09-29
- USDA FSA crop acreage data. Acres reported to the Farm Service Agency by county, crop, crop type and intended use. FSA acreage files · Verified 2026-09-29
- 2022 Census of Agriculture, Table 34. Irrigated and non-irrigated sorghum yields by state, the drought-year comparison. US table · Verified 2026-09-29
— Further peer-reviewed reading — narrower studies, each strong on its own subject:
- Cuevas, Peiris & Bean — whole-grain sorghum protein by NIR across germplasm — the measurement method behind rapid protein characterization. Agronomy 2023
- Kaufman, Herald, Bean, Wilson & Tuinstra — tannin variability across sorghum cultivars — why cultivar identity drives astringency and character. Via ARS publications
- Kafirin structure and function, reviewed — sorghum's storage protein, the chemistry that separates sorghum from barley systems. Open review, 2024
- Wu et al. — hyperspectral prediction of sorghum tannin content — non-destructive grain-quality sensing across varieties and regions. Foods 2025
- Amisi & Bwanganga — yeast performance in red sorghum wort fermentation — the process levers that govern sorghum fermentation. AMB Express 2025
- Ciocan et al. — brewing with unmalted vs. malted sorghum — a direct comparison through to finished beer quality. Fermentation 2023
- Taylor, Dlamini & Kruger — the science of the tropical cereals in lager brewing — the Journal of the Institute of Brewing's 125th-anniversary review of sorghum, maize and rice for lager beer: how they differ from barley in starch gelatinization and malt enzymes (β-amylase much lower), and future directions such as high-amylopectin, high-protein-digestibility and low-phytate lines. J. Inst. Brewing 2013 · Verified 2026-10-15
- Beta, Rooney & Waniska — malting characteristics of sixteen sorghum cultivars — sixteen cultivars grown at Lubbock, Texas, malted and measured for malting loss, α- and β-amylase and diastatic power. Cereal Chemistry 1995 · Verified 2026-10-15
- Komlaga et al. — Ghanaian sorghum varieties screened for lager brewing — twenty-six varieties screened for malting and brewing potential; five judged suitable for lager-style brewing without supplementary enzymes, with pilot-scale trials still to confirm it. J. Inst. Brewing 2021 · Verified 2026-10-15
- Chiremba, Siwela, Rooney & Taylor — hardness changes and endosperm modification during sorghum malting — four commercial cultivars of differing hardness and malt quality, followed through malting with hardness and density tests and electron microscopy. Modification began at the endosperm–scutellum interface, and a cultivar of intermediate hardness and low malting quality stayed harder and modified more slowly than a harder, high-quality one. The authors suggest abrasive dehulling (TADD) as a quick screening test for malt quality. Cereal Chemistry 2013 · University of Pretoria record · Verified 2026-10-16
- Dewar, Taylor & Berjak — germination conditions, with optimised steeping, and free amino nitrogen — the journal paper from the Dewar thesis above, the source for a 25–30 °C sorghum germination optimum. J. Inst. Brewing 1997 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Morrall, Boyd, Taylor & van der Walt — germination time, temperature and moisture in sorghum malting — 24 to about 36 °C over up to six days; 24 and 28 °C were equally good for diastatic power, FAN and extract, and higher temperatures were progressively worse (abstract). J. Inst. Brewing 1986 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Taylor — malting and the protein and free amino nitrogen of sorghum — prolamins are the main nitrogen source mobilised; asparagine and glutamine appear to be the principal free amino acids of sorghum malt, whereas proline leads in barley (abstract). J. Sci. Food Agric. 1983 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Dufour, Mélotte & Srebrnik — sorghum malts for lager beer — 49 cultivars and more than 60 malts brewed at lab scale; cultivar affected saccharification, filtration, diastatic power and wort amino acids, saccharification problems traced to variable gelatinisation temperature and lack of β-amylase, and wort amino acids depended strongly on steep-out moisture (abstract). J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 1992 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Ledley, Elias & Cockburn — mashing and the amino acid profiles of gluten-free malt worts — the Penn State follow-up to the 2021 mashing paper listed under Penn State; barley wort carried more proline than any gluten-free wort including sorghum, and sorghum wort FAN was 129 mg/L. Beverages 2023 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Garzón, Torres & Drago — malting conditions, enzyme activities and bioactives in sorghum for brewing — red and white cultivars germinated at 25 or 30 °C for one to three days; the earliest of the Argentine group's brewing-malt papers. Starch/Stärke 2016 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Garzón & Drago — malting aptitude of 24 sorghum hybrids against stated thresholds — 24 white and red hybrids malted and ranked against ≥22 °DP/g d.b. and ≥60 UBetamyl/g d.b.; 8 of the 24 met both. The clearest published demonstration of a threshold-based ranking of sorghum hybrids for malting, and the precedent GFB-SME cites for its own pass/fail framing. J. Food Biochemistry 2018 · Verified 2026-10-18
- Peiris et al. — near-infrared evaluation of starch properties across diverse sorghum populations — the USDA-ARS Manhattan NIR method paper for starch traits, listed as a method record. Processes 2021 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Dhiman … Bean, Xin & Jiao — a novel loss-of-function waxy allele (wxe) and grain quality — beyond reduced amylose, wxe showed harder kernels, higher protein, a lower endosperm-to-germ ratio and lower kernel weight than wild type (abstract); its data are public (below). G3 2025 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Ichinose … Jagadish (Texas Tech) — genetics of seed dormancy and preharvest sprouting in grain sorghum — 172 Sorghum Association Panel accessions over two years; GWAS found 99 QTLs for germination index and germination percentage, with hotspots on Sb4 and Sb5 (abstract). Relevant because preharvest sprouting damages malting grain. The Plant Genome 2026 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Muoria, Linden & Bechtel — diastatic power and α-amylase in millet, sorghum and barley — 198 malts from 22 grains; per the abstract, Kenyan sorghum malt averaged 4.37 °DP ASBC and 4.63 DU α-amylase, against millet's 13.22 °DP and 23.00 DU and barley's 116.50 °DP and 44.36 DU. J. ASBC 1998 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Agu & Palmer — millet, sorghum and barley malted at their optimum germination temperatures — per the abstract, barley's nitrogen, extract and diastatic concepts did not transfer to millet and sorghum; sorghum malt released the most group 1 amino acids and very high proline. J. Inst. Brewing 2013 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Chiba et al. — germination temperature and proteolysis in sorghum and millet — per the abstract, germination at 20, 25 and 30 °C gave similar reducing-sugar and FAN production, so malting temperature variation did not harm the yeast substrates. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2012 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Amadi, Moneke, Okolo & Nwagu — maize and sorghum malted at equal nitrogen — per the abstract, the two grains developed diastatic power in similar patterns, and malted maize showed the better proteolysis. J. ASBC 2021 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Heredia-Olea, Cortés-Ceballos & Serna-Saldívar — malting sorghum with Aspergillus oryzae — per the abstract, 1% koji inoculation raised malt α-amylase and gave 27% more fermentable carbohydrates and 24% more FAN after double mashing. J. ASBC 2017 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Rubio-Flores, García-Arellano, Pérez-Carrillo & Serna-Saldívar — A. oryzae-malted sorghum lagers — per the abstract, the sorghum-A. oryzae lager matched barley malt beer on specific gravity and alcohol but differed in colour and key volatiles. Bioresources and Bioprocessing 2020 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Etokakpan & Palmer — endosperm-degrading enzymes in malting sorghum and barley — the comparison this site's mash and germination pages cite. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 6(4), 1990 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Iwuoha & Aina — steeping condition, germination time and α-amylase — Nigerian local red and hybrid Short Kaura malts. Food Chemistry 58(4), 1997 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Swanston, Rao, Subramanian & Taylor — grain quality and malting potential — J. Cereal Science 19(1), 1994 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Khoddami, Mohammadrezaei & Roberts — malting, colour, phenolics and anthocyanins — Molecules 22(10), 2017 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Wu et al. — tannin presence conditioned by natural alleles of Tannin1 — why the tannin trait is genetically simple. PNAS 109(26), 2012 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Badau, Nkama & Jideani — steep-out moisture, malting loss and diastatic power in pearl millet and sorghum — also on the millet directory. Int. J. Food Properties 9(2), 2006 · Verified 2026-10-17
— Completed projects —
Hy-Gain for smallholders (completed). The Gates Foundation-funded University of Queensland program, led by Anna Koltunow, that developed apomictic sorghum, hybrids that reproduce their own seed, for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The project's site states that it concluded on 30 June 2026. Hy-Gain · Verified 2026-10-17
— Public datasets —
- USDA NPGS sorghum germplasm — Griffin, Georgia. The federal genebank's sorghum holdings, maintained at the Griffin, Georgia station and searchable via GRIN. GRIN · Verified 2026-08-24
- SorghumBase. The USDA-supported sorghum genomics and community database: genomes, variation data, and the crop's research commons. SorghumBase · Verified 2026-08-24 · its record paper: Genetics 2026, Gladman et al. · Verified 2026-10-17
- USDA-ARS (Bean, Wu) — waxy endosperm allele data — the data behind Dhiman et al. 2025: total starch and amylose, kafirin, single-kernel (SKCS) hardness, density and vitreosity tables, CC0. Ag Data Commons, 2025 · Verified 2026-10-17
- USDA-ARS (Bean) — seed-composition predictions by machine learning — one CSV of predicted protein, starch, hardness, grain size and lysine for sorghum, CC0. Ag Data Commons, 2025 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Rhodes et al. — genetic architecture of kernel composition in global sorghum germplasm, and its figshare data — NIR-predicted composition across a global diversity panel (Clemson, Texas A&M, USDA-ARS). BMC Genomics 2017 · figshare data · Verified 2026-10-17
- CSU sorghum variety trials. Colorado's annual published grain and forage sorghum trial results. CSU Crops Testing · Verified 2026-08-24
- USDA NASS sorghum statistics. Federal production, acreage, and yield statistics for US sorghum. NASS · Verified 2026-08-24
- Sorghum Trust (ARC) — malting quality of national-trial cultivars, 2013/14. The Agricultural Research Council's final report for the Sorghum Trust: candidate cultivars from South Africa's national trials evaluated for germinability, malting loss and diastatic power (SDU), with malting selection against the mean of named reference cultivars. 2013/14 report · Verified 2026-10-15
- SAGL — South African Sorghum Crop Quality Report, 2024/2025 season. The Southern African Grain Laboratory's annual national survey, funded by the Sorghum Trust: 15 local samples that season (67% class GM; no white sorghum received), graded and measured for thousand-kernel mass, crude protein, total starch, crude fat, colour and mycotoxins, with imported-grain quality from Brazil and the USA. Of the sorghum processed for South Africa's local market it reports 38% going to malting, 31% of that indoor and 69% floor malting (a figure its text dates to the 2025/26 season). It grades grain only, with no diastatic power or malt analysis, and it reproduces the national grading regulation listed under Organizations & Events. The 2024/25 report · Verified 2026-10-17
— Extension and patents —
- Walia, Yerka, Washington-Allen, Andrade-Rodriguez & McCuin — UNR Extension Fact Sheet 21-09, Sorghum Production in Nevada — Nevada's production fact sheet; it names grain sorghum as a "gluten-free food and beverage ingredient" and says most hybrids need 90 to 120 days to maturity. UNR Extension PDF, 2021 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Klisch / Lakefront Brewery — US 2009/0068309 A1, "Gluten-free beer and method for making the same" — the syrup-route patent application behind a brewery listed under Industry: fermentable sugars produced enzymatically from gluten-free grains, with claims reciting rice and/or sorghum syrup (claim 2: sorghum-derived). Priority 2006-03-06; published 2009-03-12; family WO 2007/102850; Google Patents lists it as abandoned (2012). Google Patents · the brewery's entry · Verified 2026-10-17
— Datasets published on this site — complete, with data files:
- USDA-ARS Madison micro-malting screening — a federal sorghum malting screening, republished complete and attributed.
- Sorghum screenings 2002–2004 — the companion multi-year cultivar screening record.
- Hartwick 2019 production malt analysis — brewing-laboratory panels of real production sorghum malts.
- Midwest 2019 grain nutrition — compositional data from production grain.
- LCBO finished-beer certificates — finished gluten-free beer analytical certificates.
- Production QA log 2014–2017 — a multi-year production quality record.
- 2015 gluten-reduced beer survey — community survey data on gluten-reduced beer.
— External research, extracted as data on this site —
- USDA 2023: sorghum protein by NIR — the ARS germplasm protein study, presented as data.
- Foods 2024: yeast strain × volatiles — sorghum beer flavor data, presented as data.
- Cereal Chemistry 1995: malting sixteen sorghum cultivars — the Beta, Rooney & Waniska malting study, presented as data.
— Evaluation methods & proposed standards —
- How sorghum malt is evaluated — the methods family — SANS 235, Novellie/CSIR, IoB/EBC, barley-adapted, Taylor/Pretoria, and commercial COA practice, compared side by side.
- Proposed sorghum malt evaluation standard — this site's draft evaluation framework.
- Sorghum Seed Standard 1: Today's Process and Seed Standard 2: A Sorghum for the Barley Process — this site's draft cultivar standards, for external-enzyme brewing today and for a future sorghum that brews like barley.
- Proposed truly gluten-free standard — this site's draft definition standard.
— Where the field's gaps are — this site's running account of what remains unsolved and what data would help:
- Open research problems — the documented unsolved questions in gluten-free brewing science.
- Research asks — the specific data and studies this site is looking for.
How the field connects — documented links between the entries above
A directory of separate entries hides the most important fact: this is a connected field. Every connection below is documented, no inferred relationships, no speculation.
— Research to research —
- UC Davis ↔ UNR — an active joint project on improving sorghum's malting potential connects the brewing science program to the breeding program. UC Davis brewing research
- ARS Manhattan ↔ Kansas State — the federal grain-quality unit and the university's sorghum programs share one campus ecosystem in Manhattan, Kansas.
- ARS Manhattan ↔ Purdue — the cultivar tannin-variability work was co-authored across the federal unit and Purdue genetics. Via ARS publications
- TAMU ↔ Pretoria — the high-digestibility FAN study was co-authored across the two programs: US breeding genetics, South African brewing science, one paper. The study
- TAMU ↔ K-State ↔ Pretoria — the SMIL protein sorghum project runs across all three programs at once. Project page
- UC Davis ↔ Queensland — the sorghum fermentability mechanism paper was co-authored across both, the same malting chair bridging his current and former programs. The study
- Purdue ↔ the malting literature — the digestibility assays and lines developed at Purdue are the raw material the FAN and waxy-malting studies later proved out in the brewhouse.
- K-State ↔ Purdue, by training lineage — K-State's sorghum breeder did his doctorate under Tuinstra and his postdoc under Hamaker; the protein-digestibility school has a family tree. Documented on his faculty profile
- ARS College Station ↔ Texas A&M — the multi-environment grain weathering study was co-authored across the federal germplasm unit and the Texas A&M sorghum breeding program. The study
- ARS Manhattan ↔ K-State, on growing location — both location studies above, the grain-chemistry trial and the ethanol-yield trial, were co-authored across the federal grain-quality unit and K-State. 2018 · 2008
- The ergot record, Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle — the 1997 first report traced the disease north to the Panhandle seed region; the Panhandle weather study picked up from that epidemic. 1998 · 2002
- Texas Tech ↔ UNR — a 2023–25 USDA NIFA award to Texas Tech for network analysis of sorghum grain starch, protein and oil lists Yinping Jiao and Melinda Yerka as its investigators. NAL project record
- UNR ↔ ARS Manhattan ↔ Texas Tech — the 2025 molecular toolkit for breeding waxy sorghum was co-authored by the Reno breeder, the federal grain-quality chemist and the Texas Tech grain-genetics lab. The paper
- ARS Manhattan → UNR — per UNR, the federal Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit analysed grain starch, protein and lysine for the Reno program's varieties, alongside research collaborators at Texas Tech, Nebraska and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. UNR, 2023
- Texas Tech ↔ ARS Manhattan — the 2025 study of a novel loss-of-function waxy allele was co-authored by Texas Tech's genomics institute, the federal grain-quality unit in Manhattan and the federal germplasm unit in Lubbock; its data are listed under Public datasets. The study
— Funding lines —
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The Center for Sorghum Improvement ↔ K-State — the sorghum improvement platform anchored at the state's land-grant university. The center
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USAID → SMIL → K-State — the development agency's 2013–2023 cooperative agreement funded the sorghum-and-millet lab at its K-State home base; the same lab appears in the millet directory. The lab · the award record
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Gates → Queensland — the foundation's money funded QAAFI's apomictic sorghum program, Hy-Gain, which concluded in June 2026, adding a third documented funder to the university's sorghum work. Hy-Gain
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Pennsylvania's program ↔ Penn State — the state's malt and brewed beverage program funds research in the same state whose university produces the gluten-free brewing papers listed above. The program
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GRDC ↔ Queensland ↔ the conference — Australia's grains R&D investor funds QAAFI's pre-breeding program and the Sorghum Strategic Alliance, and sponsors the Global Sorghum Conference where the US programs gather.
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The Checkoff ↔ Texas A&M, as patent co-owners — a 2023 US patent on herbicide-resistant grain sorghum is assigned jointly to the United Sorghum Checkoff Program Board, the Texas A&M University System and the "University of Arkansas at Little Rock" (as Google Patents lists the assignee), and lists William L. Rooney among its inventors: a producer board holding a share of a trait. US 11700809 B2
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The Checkoff → Purdue — the producer board's FY2022 award to Purdue, $511,591, funds sorghum hybrids with enhanced protein digestibility and lysine content: the digestibility school above, paid for by growers. Checkoff funded projects
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The Checkoff → Texas Tech, on the consumer side — Texas Tech's 2025 study of college students' acceptance of eight sorghum foods was funded by the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, grant USCP-MD014-21. The study
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Hyderabad: one city, two anchors — India's national millets-and- sorghum institute and ICRISAT's global headquarters share the same city, the national system and the global center side by side. IIMR · ICRISAT
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One flavor lab, two grains — the University of Florida group publishes volatiles studies on both sorghum beer and millet beer, the same lens across two directories. The sorghum study
— Research meeting industry —
- Fox ↔ the Craft Maltsters Guild — brewing science's most credentialed malting chair, engaged with the craft malting movement. Guild feature
- The Craft Maltsters Guild ↔ Voyager — Voyager Craft Malt (New South Wales) appears under "Malthouse Members" on the Guild's Craft Malt Finder, alongside the gluten-free houses Grouse and Eckert. Craft Malt Finder
- Danforth → Agrela — sorghum phenotyping research spinning out into a commercial sensing company. Danforth's account
- UNR ↔ Nevada's grain chain — in 2020 the breeding program announced a grain-to-glass plan with commercial seed, malting (a planned maltster, 40 Mile Malt, Fallon) and brewing partners. UNR's account
- Clemson → southeastern fields — USDA-funded development of sorghum hybrids for eastern and southeastern growers: public breeding aimed at real acres. Clemson's announcement
- K-State's sorghum trait network ↔ the seed industry — the Center for Sorghum Improvement's roughly $1 million USDA network brings private seed companies, Innovative Seed Solutions and Corteva among them, together with the Sorghum Checkoff and the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission as early collaborators. K-State Research and Extension, via HPJ, 2023
— Industry to industry —
- Food, Agro & Allied ↔ Nigeria's brewers — the sorghum maltster's management has named Nigerian Breweries, Guinness Nigeria and International Breweries among the buyers of its products, and has reported export orders for its malt extract from Australia and New Zealand. ThisDay, 2022
- Green's ↔ De Proefbrouwerij — the gluten-free brand states that its beers are brewed at De Proef in Lochristi, Belgium, a contract brewery. Green's · Merchant du Vin
- Green's ↔ the Gluten-Free Food Program — the brand states that all its beers are certified through the National Celiac Association's Gluten-Free Food Program. Green's
- The Whole Grains Council ↔ Everspring — the Council's co-packer and private-label list carries EverSpring Farms for sprouted grains, with custom blending, milling, retail packaging and validated microbial reduction. WGC listing
— The field connecting through this site —
- The K-State brewing study ↔ the Madison screening — two of the same hybrids were measured independently by both programs; this site cross-validates the two datasets.
- ARS Madison ↔ our data library — the unit's sorghum micro-malting screening is republished here in full, complete and attributed.
- ARS Manhattan ↔ our data library — the unit's germplasm protein study is presented as data on our external-research pages.
- Pretoria ↔ our methods pages — the Taylor/Pretoria evaluation methods are documented in our methods family, beside SANS 235 and the CSIR-era methods.
- Penn State and Arkansas ↔ our grain pages — the millet pages cite Penn State's process research; the rice pages cite the Arkansas group's rice malting work. Citation relationships that existed before this directory did.
- Florida ↔ our data library — the sorghum beer volatiles study is republished as data on our external-research pages.
- The growing-region evidence ↔ our region page — the location, weather and toxin studies and the federal inspection, insurance and acreage records listed above are read together on Where to Grow Sorghum for Malt.
Research gaps — where the field's coverage runs out
A map is most useful where it shows blank space. These are the gaps we have found and documented. If we have missed something, tell us:
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Sorghum buyers work without the information layer wheat buyers take for granted. Wheat markets have long traded on per-load protein premiums and discounts; we have found no widely used commercial equivalent for sorghum. Lot-to-lot variation in protein and grain quality lands on the buyer as unpredictable mash behavior, a documented, recurring headache. Closing this gap is the purpose of this site's Lot Reporting Standard: per-batch reporting of the values buyers actually need, built from testing sellers already do. The nearest misses we have found are a grade premium, not a protein premium: pet-food buyers paying premiums for U.S. No. 1 sorghum, per Sorghum Grower, 2018; and federal work on sorting single kernels by protein and starch content (ARS project 449511, under Projects). Searched 2026-10-17.
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A national sorghum malt standard is rare. South Africa's SANS 235 is the only one we have identified, documented on our methods pages, and we know of no US equivalent. Sorghum grain grades with thresholds exist in each of the seven regions we searched, among them the US, Australian, East African and Codex standards listed under Organizations & Events. South Africa's grading regulation names malt-sorghum classes (GM and GH, separated by testa colour; also under Organizations & Events); beyond those classes we have found none that sets malting criteria or a germination requirement. Searched 2026-10-17. This site publishes a proposed evaluation standard as a starting point.
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Malting-sorghum supply at commercial scale in the US. As of 2026-10-17 we have found one US malthouse listing whole-grain sorghum malt in its catalog (Deer Creek, under Industry), made seasonally and in a shared facility; commercial-scale supply is still not something a brewery can count on.
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We have found no peer-reviewed cost model for sorghum malt. The closest work is the rice-malt cost study, a methodology that, as far as we can tell, has not yet been applied to sorghum.
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Production-scale commercial lot data is scarce to absent. The published research world measures germplasm and experimental plots; we have found no published production-scale commercial sorghum lot dataset. The closest public analogs are the datasets on this site. The nearest misses we have found are crop-level surveys and germplasm data, not commercial lots: the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council's annual sorghum quality reports (under Organizations & Events) and the USDA-ARS seed-composition and waxy-allele datasets (under Public datasets). Searched 2026-10-17.
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A US multi-location sorghum malting trial is missing, as far as we have searched. The trials that malted the same cultivars in several places are South African; the US location studies we found measured the grain and its germination, and each US malting study we opened used grain from one site. Searched 2026-09-29.
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White and food-grade sorghum acres aren't counted by state. USDA's crop statistics, the Farm Service Agency's acreage files and the crop-insurance records carry no grain-color category, so the map comes from buyers' reports. Searched 2026-09-29.
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We have found no state-level survey of fumonisin or zearalenone in US sorghum. Crop-insurance records count mycotoxin claims by county and federal export inspections record aflatoxin and DON by port; neither separates fumonisin or zearalenone. The multi-state survey we found is from the 1975–76 crops. Searched 2026-09-29.
What would close these gaps, in detail: Open research problems · Research asks.
Run a sorghum program, lab, project, or company this directory hasn't listed? Entries are added on merit once verified — tell us about it.
Entries are added as they are verified, never to pad the count. A listing here is a map reference, not a citation: this directory deliberately maps the whole sorghum research world — a wider circle than the specific evidence our brewing guidance is built on, which every guidance page cites directly. Corrections welcome — see Contact.
Directory established 2026-08-24 · last full review 2026-08-24.