Poland’s Biogas Sorghum on the Rise

The number of outlets that sorghum provides, its biomass, its resilience to climate change, and its other characteristics are appreciated as true assets, in Poland. As a complement to corn in biogas production plants, sorghum provides an attractive element of diversification. This is why the crop may develop significantly in this country.

Gabriel Gawracki runs a farm not far from the town of Kętrzyn. The farm grounds include one of the 150 biogas plants in Poland – which form the wider plant network of Brzeźnica, covering almost 1200 hectares. Gabriel Gawracki’s job is to manage and monitor the crops. To him, sorghum is a future ingredient among the raw materials used by biogas plants.

«We thought a lot about what to use in order to diversify our raw materials for our biogas plant and we chose sorghum, for last year’s production. We started with 25 hectares of sorghum, but for our next production year we will increase the area to 70 hectares. 

We chose a feed sorghum variety with a relatively high biomass yield – particularly important in biogas production. We decided on a combination of 70 percent corn silage and 30 percent sorghum silage as an appropriate ratio to use in our biogas plant. In addition, we use waste from dairies and slaughterhouses, as well as liquid manure. The energy thus produced is «pumped» into the network and it is used as heat on the farm.

One of the main assets of sorghum is its low water needs. From April 24^th through June 17^th, we saw no drop of rainfall in our region. Our sorghum crop showed no signs of drought-driven stress, despite the fact that we had only 120 litres of rainfall throughout the crop’s growing season. The crop’s growth rate is also amazing. Within two months, the plants went from a tiny grain to being 4,5 metres tall. Sorghum grows under our very eyes and has surprised us all in a positive way from the first year of production.»

The source article on Agrofil: