Cooperating Farmers Larry Palmer, Chuck Loomis, Jon Zirkle, and Tom a Wise scout a sorghum patch at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center sustainable farm 

Investigating the Possibilities of Cooperative Sorghum Syrup Production and Marketing for Strengthening Small Farm Sustainability in Northern Indiana is the official title of our project which has been funded by a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program of the US Department of Agriculture.

Old Loon Farm is officially the coordinator of the project, which includes Palmer Farms, Inc., Wise Farm, LLC, and the Sustainable Farm of the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, located near Wolf Lake, Indiana.

Over the next two growing seasons, the three small farms and the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Merry Lea will work cooperatively to investigate the optimum scale for profitably growing, harvesting, pressing and processing sweet sorghum cane on small plots, and to develop new local and regional markets for sorghum syrup.

Sorghum syrup is produced by pressing the canes, collecting the juice, and evaporating it in a process that’s similar to evaporating maple syrup.  But unlike maple sap, which requires 40-50 gallons to produce a gallon of syrup, only about 8 gallons of sorghum cane juice are required to produce a gallon of this golden tan colored syrup. Much of the equipment used locally in producing maple syrup in the winter, can also be used to produce sorghum syrup in the fall.

Our grandparents and folks living in the southern US states are likely more familiar with sorghum syrup than most people living in northern Indiana.  You may see sorghum syrup (often mislabeled as “sorghum molasses”) in stores that carry Amish products, but sorghum cane syrup is not in regular use as a sweetener in most of our area.

We plan to re-introduce sorghum cane syrup – a delicious and nutritious food – to the area’s farmers markets, restaurants and craft brewers and distillers.  Its unique and complex flavor screams autumn and brings to mind pumpkins, cornbread, biscuits, cookies, cakes and even pork BBQ!

In future posts, we will update our progress, as well as post more information on our initial sorghum festival, planned for Thursday, October 12 and Friday, October 13, at the Merry Lea Environmental Center.  Save the date and stay connected!