Upton is farm manager for Unibale, which is owned by a Chinese company and situated west of Moree in northern NSW.

He ran a 220-hectare sorghum trial over the 2015/16 summer to assess four varieties, a third of which was Pioneer brand G33 hybrid sorghum.

"The ground was watered up and we planted into a full profile in early September 2015 at a rate of 2.5 kg/ha - emergence was excellent across all the varieties, with plants coming up within seven days," Upton said.

"We put down about 250 units of nitrogen just prior to planting and watering up, while weed control consisted of Dual Gold and atrazine, with no need for any other sprays throughout the season."

The trial received no significant in-crop rain, although G33 was part of the trial that got a second watering at the boot stage.

Upton said it was obvious the G33 grain fill was progressing well, meaning its yield potential was high.

"As we got closer to harvest, when we were comparing the G33 to the other varieties in the trial, you could tell it had the better potential due to the size of the heads and grain," Upton said.

"That was confirmed when we harvested and got our grain weights back, which were up to 85 kg per hectalitre."

With no lodging issues in the variety, Upton was pleased with how the G33 harvest progressed.

"The colour of the G33 was great and it yielded around 7t/ha, which was a fantastic result.

"We've made a conscious decision that from now on when we grow sorghum it will only be G33, as we know it's got the ability to hang on when conditions get a bit tough.

"After I sat down and worked out the return on the crop, it was pleasing to see that if you've got water, and you don't need as much as you do for cotton, and you can get these kinds of yields, it's a pretty handy return."