Globally, over half of all sorghum is used for human consumption. Yet sorghum is largely unknown as a food in the United States and other developed countries. Recently, the U.S. demand for sorghum as a gluten-free, non-GMO input to food products has been growing. At the same time, the use of sorghum for food and industrial uses is being promoted by the producer-financed United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP). How much of that growth can be attributed to the USCP promotion? Has the investment been profitable for sorghum producers? This study finds that USCP promotion programs have resulted in a 4% increase in the sales value of sorghum for that purpose and a 1% increase in total sorghum farm revenue. The farm level benefit-cost ratio is estimated at between 5.8 and 7.1 in terms of producer profit per dollar spent on promotion.

An Exact Affine Stone Index demand model is estimated to analyze the household-level demand for nine nut products (peanuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, mixed nuts, macadamia nuts, and other nuts) in the United States using Nielsen Homescan panel data from 2009 through 2015. The demands for all nuts are elastic. All nut products are necessities and substitutes for each other. Household sociodemographic characteristics are statistically significant drivers of the demand for nut products. Finally, the effects of changes in the magnitude of selected promotion expenditure elasticities for nuts are simulated to determine their impacts on prices and quantities demanded.