Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 4/20/21


A tasty little seed holds great promise for North Carolina grain growers. To improve on-farm diversity and provide income continuity, growers need viable crop rotation options. NC State crop and soil sciences researcher David Suchoff thinks sesame is a tempting new alternative crop. He is leading a new $63,000 NCDA funded two-year grant to determine the feasibility of sesame production in NC.

Sizing Up Sesame for NC
Sesame is a low-input, drought and heat tolerant crop primarily produced for its high oleic and linoleic acid seed. Suchoff thinks this warm-season, rain-fed crop is attractive to NC growers for a host of reasons. 

“Large acreage grain farmers have well-established systems and equipment that are virtually the same as those used for sesame production. Sesame is also appealing because sales contracts are readily available, demand is increasing, and the crop initially appears resistant to some of our most challenging root-knot nematodes.”

Suchoff’s two-year study will evaluate the growth, production and seed quality of three commercially available sesame cultivars.

The team’s research will be conducted in four of NC’s growing regions including the Coastal Plain, Sandhills, Piedmont, and Tidewater Research Stations. “We’ll also be looking at nitrogen application rates and appropriate plant spacing,” Suchoff said.

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