OMAHA (DTN) -- Growers such as Bob Schrock from Kiowa, Kan., have mostly focused on growing winter wheat and using some summer milo as a rotation. However, they are discovering new crops besides milo, such as canola, corn and sesame, rotate nicely with wheat.
Sesame produces small seed pods (inset) that can be harvested with normal equipment. (Photo by Dan Davidson, inset by Danny Peeper)
Sesame is a summer annual crop similar in appearance to cotton but it grows up to 6 feet tall and carries pods in leaf axils similar to soybeans. Seed is marketed as edible grain or processed for oil.
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS LED DEVELOPMENT
SESACO, a family-owned sesame company based in Fallbrook, Calif., breeds varieties, produces seed and contracts growers to produce sesame in the southern High Plains. Growers in southwestern Kansas, Oklahoma and central Texas who lack irrigation are discovering that sesame, which is heat and drought hardy, fits a rotation niche with winter wheat and is more profitable than milo.
Danny Peeper, commercial production manager for SESACO in Kansas and Oklahoma, explained the company began in 1979, developing varieties and promoting commercial grain production. Today, it has the only commercial breeding program in the U.S. and is the only seed company that has non-shattering genetics. Pod shattering can be an issue with sesame.
"We contract acres with growers. Local dealers sell our seed, and we provide agronomic support," Peeper said. "Elevators receive the grain, and we pay growers." SESACO has a processing plant in Hobart, Okla., and cleans seed for the domestic and export market.
Demand for sesame is growing and in 2010 SESACO had more than 100,000 contracted acres under production. "We can sell 100 percent of what we grow times 10," said Peeper "and production has been doubling every year."
REGIONAL NICHE
SESACO is targeting an area west of I-35 from Wichita, Kan., to the Rio Grand River Valley in southern Texas, particularly dryland fields. "Sesame likes heat, tolerates drought and is adapted to areas where there are few summer crop choices," said Peeper. The plant flowers best in temperatures higher that 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It is very drought tolerant, requires few inputs and can be planted and harvested with standard grain equipment, he said, so farmers don't need to make special investments for the crop.
Schrock planted his first crop of sesame in 2010, after winter wheat harvest, with fields in Kansas and Oklahoma. He was attracted to it because of its tolerance to heat and drought, conditions that limit production of double-crop corn or milo, and because sesame can mine nitrogen and other nutrients left over from the wheat crop.
Schrock likes planting a double crop after wheat because it keeps a green crop on the land, suppresses weeds and provides a return. "If sesame works out as planned, I will plant it instead of milo."
MANAGEMENT IS SIMPLE
Peeper said growers can easily adopt sesame. "What attracts growers is that little management is required, there are no bugs and diseases, is a strong weed competitor and requires few inputs."
SESACO recommends no-till where possible to conserve moisture and prevent crusting. Seed rate is 5 pounds per acre in 15-inch rows. They are evaluating 7.5-inch rows, and commercial air seeders with disc or hoe openers work fine. They recommend applying 30 to 40 pounds of N to get the crop started; it will then get the rest of its needs by scavenging from the soil. Dual Magnum herbicide provides 30 days of protection until the crop canopies. Then just wait to combine.
One issue is getting good crop establishment, as Schrock found out during his very first season. "Sesame can't tolerant planting in wet soils, crusting or ponding water. It can be hard to get a good stand, and if you get a heavy rain after planting, you might need to replant," he said.
While emergence is a risk, Peeper said he believes growers who no-till, plant when soil conditions are right and place seed a half-inch into moisture and cover the seed will have few replant issues.
Schrock said he believes it will be a tricky crop to learn to grow initially. He said growers need to plant and manage to get a good stand, and there are few herbicides registered, so weed control could be risky.
YIELD, PRICE AND MARKET
Peeper said dryland growers can expect to harvest 600 to 800 pounds per acre, upwards of 1,000 pounds in a good year, with a top end of 1,500 pounds. SESACO pays $0.30 a pound for food-grade sesame. While Peeper recognizes they are the only market around, "we have to compete with other summer crops, and it has to be a profitable crop or farmers won't grow it."
SESACO is the only buyer and processor of sesame in the U.S., deals with food-grade sesame only and exports 50 percent of the commodity with China as a large export market. "Sesame has to meet stringent product standards for food grade," said Peeper. "It has to be 99.9 percent pure with few defects and (no) off-color seed. Our buyers purchase a raw seed product and make it into peanut butter-like or hummus products or as an edible seed put on buns, in food or trail mixes."
The company processes for the food-grade market and avoids the oil market. "Oil is by far the largest market," said Peeper, "but it is also the lowest value and requires the lowest quality. However, it is a very good oil and comparable to virgin olive oil." However, the price paid is only half of that paid for edible sesame.
ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTION
Schrock is intrigued by the prospect of sesame replacing milo as a double crop and its low input costs. With land costs covered by the previous wheat crop, he budgets $25 for seed, $15 for seeding, $15 for nitrogen, $20 to $25 for herbicide and spraying and $20 for harvesting, or $95-$100 per acre. If his crop yields 600 pounds per acre as a double crop at $0.30 per pound, that is $180 with an $80-per-acre net profit. And in a good summer with rain, yield might hit 800 pounds and return a profit of $140 per acre.
Daniel Davidson can be reached at daniel.davidson@telventdtn.com
(GH/AG/KM)
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