For sugar-based biofuel production, Blade will introduce sweet sorghum hybrids (also called sweet-stem sorghum) to complement or expand feedstock supplies in sugarcane-growing regions. This includes Gulf Coast states in the United States and other sub-tropical or tropical growing environments.

We are testing a number of high-yielding, multiple-cut hybrids with high sugar content. Like other types of sorghum, sweets are more drought tolerant than many other crops and can be grown under less-than-perfect conditions.

University agronomists note that sorghum requires 4 times less water than sugarcane. Sorghum also needs less fertilizer, grows rapidly and is easy to plant. This provides a competitive, and often lower, cost for total fermentable sugars — a key consideration in ethanol or other biofuel production. Leftover stalks can be used for cogeneration of power (like sugarcane bagasse) or processed into cellulosic biofuel.