The Kentucky Derby is the most exciting two minutes in sports, bar none. Last year, roughly $194 million was wagered on the race. While the derby will be concluded by the time you read this, alfalfa seed companies and growers are just now coming to the starting gate of a new enterprise.

On May 4, National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA) announced the creation of the first-ever U.S. Alfalfa Farmer Research Initiative (aka Alfalfa Checkoff Program). As the nation’s third-most valuable field crop, alfalfa has historically not kept pace with research funding.

Alfalfa, like any plant system, needs sufficient amounts of nutrients to maintain quality stands and yields. To determine those needs, the Irrigated Alfalfa Management for Mediterranean and Desert Zones book published in 2008 by the University of California Alfalfa Workgroup has a chapter dedicated to fertilization strategies for the arid and semi-arid growing areas of the world, including many parts of California.

The forage sorghum family of plants plays a huge role in summer forage production across much of the country. The most common ones used in forage agriculture are forage sorghum, sudangrass and sorghum-sudan hybrids.