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Sesame is a new crop for the southeastern USA, most recently being considered for this region because of frequent drought events in the historical farming area of the crop, that is, Texas and Oklahoma, and for overall expansion of its domestic production. Although sesame was introduced in the USA in the 19th century, its commercial cultivation was not possible before the 1990s with the release of non-dehiscent cultivars. The southeastern USA has been considered promising because of its greater annual precipitation as compared with the southwestern USA. In addition, sesame has some highly valuable agronomic characteristics that could make the crop a beneficial addition to crop rotations in the southeast. These crop characteristics include the following: nematode resistance potential, drought tolerance, nitrogen recovery ability, rotational suitability with the predominant agronomic crops in the region, and capacity to attract a wide variety of pollinators. Since very little United States-based literature is available on the crop, the objective of this review is to provide: 1) a sesame history in the USA; 2) a description of the botanical characteristics of the crop that make it suitable for mechanized production in the USA; and 3) an overview of the principal sesame production methods of interest for the southeastern USA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]