Benedict T. Palen, Jr. on Sesame Farming Practical Insights for U.S. Growers
                     Benedict T. Palen, Jr. on Sesame Farming: Practical Insights for U.S. Growers
Ask most farmers in Iowa or Illinois about sesame, and you’ll get a blank look. It’s not a crop that shows 
up in mainstream rotation conversations, yet across a narrow band of Texas, Oklahoma, and southern 
Kansas, it’s quietly become a legitimate alternative for growers tired of fighting sorghum’s aphid 
problems or soybean’s chemical costs. Benedict T. Palen, Jr., a fifth-generation farmer and 
agricultural consultant based in Denver, Colorado, has fielded a growing number of questions from 
clients in that region wondering whether sesame deserves a spot in their operation.
Benedict T. Palen, Jr. on Sesame Farming: Practical Insights for U.S. Growers
Why Sesame Even Works as a U.S. Row Crop
For most of the twentieth century, sesame wasn’t practical to grow at scale in America because the 
seed capsules shatter open as they dry, dropping most of the harvest onto the ground before a combine 
ever reaches the field. That changed when non-dehiscent varieties, seed lines bred so the capsules hold 
their seed through drydown, made mechanical harvest possible. He points out that this single genetic 
development is the entire reason sesame exists as a commercial option in the U.S. today, without it, the 
crop simply isn’t economically viable outside of hand-harvest labor markets.
Benedict T. Palen, Jr. on Sesame Farming: Practical Insights for U.S. Growers
Rotation Fit and What to Avoid
He typically recommends sesame as a rotation partner alongside sorghum or cotton rather than a 
standalone specialty planting, since it shares few disease or pest vulnerabilities with either crop, 
allowing it to serve as a genuine break in a farm’s pest and disease cycle. He advises against planting 
sesame on fields with poor drainage or a history of standing water, since the crop has almost no 
tolerance for saturated soil, a detail that trips up growers coming from wetter growing regions further 
east.
Benedict T. Palen, Jr. on Sesame Farming: Practical Insights for U.S. Growers
Setting Realistic Expectations
Sesame isn’t going to replace a farm’s primary cash crop, and he is clear about that with every client 
who brings it up. Its real value shows up on specific acres, marginal, drought-prone ground where other 
crops already underperform, and for farmers looking to break disease and pest cycles tied to more 
common rotations. Approached that way, rather than as a universal solution, sesame becomes a 
genuinely useful tool instead of a disappointing experiment.
Conclusion Sesame farming in the U.S. remains a narrow, regionally specific opportunity, but for 
growers in the right part of the country, it offers a low-input, drought-tolerant option that most rotation 
plans overlook entirely. Getting it right depends on details that rarely make it into general farming 
advice: soil temperature at planting, weed-free field selection, and realistic harvest timing around the 
crop’s slow drydown. With guidance from experienced consultants like Benedict T. Palen, Jr., growers 
can evaluate whether sesame genuinely fits their land, rather than adopting it on the strength of its 
novelty alone.
Benedict T. Palen, Jr. on Sesame Farming: Practical Insights for U.S. Growers
Learn More—  
https://x.com/BenedictTPalen
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x90r3ke
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