September 2022 - Collab - lists.millets2023.space

General notes & update on the list
by Don Osborn 30 Sep '22

30 Sep '22

Greetings, Just a quick update. First, the membership in this list is slowly growing. If you have not introduced yourself and your interest in or work on millets yet, you are welcome to do so. I personally have some messages in preparation that I hope to post to the list soon. Among them, one has to do with lessons from the International Year of Pulses (2016) for our work on the International Year of Millets. There has been some attention to the interesting record of the International Year of Quinoa (2013). One of the similarities of IYP & IYM, however, is that each deal with a variety of crops Another item on the way is about research on imports of millets and millet products for consumer markets in North America. There is a larger topic of import & export of millets, and this is a subset of that. Several millets are imported as food that are not grown for food-quality grain in this region, and that is likely to remain the case for a while until such time as markets for them increase. But my impression is that not much has been published on this. Finally, you may note that I'm writing from a new email address. This is using the new domain name for the North American Millets Alliance. More on that to come. The current millets2023.space domain will persist, and for interests of continuity, this list will remain on it. Best to all, Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US - +1 202-621-3911) North American Millets Alliance

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New diagram for visualizing millets as a group
by Don Osborn 06 Sep '22

06 Sep '22

Last month on Collab, I shared a diagram for visualizing millets as a group, and how it might be used to illustrate some botanical relationships among millets and their origins, as well as to show how and where they are currently used. I indicated that I would rework the base diagram, and that is what you see in the attached. Main changes: * Number of boxes increased from 19 to 21 * Split Indian & Japanese barnyard millet, and white and black fonio each into two boxes * Added "Some Panicum species" next to the box for Setaria spp. The interest here is to begin to account for species related to cultivated millets that are or have been used for food in some circumstances (or in the past) * Rearranged how the various millets are presented in function of geographic origin (Asia, mostly towards the left, and Africa to the right) and botanic relationships (tribe, and genus where more than one species belong to a genus) * Added brief explanations on the right about each level in the diagram (sorghum - sometimes called "great millet" - is at the top as it's by far the most cultivated of all the grains presented worldwide, etc.) I'll probably tweak some of the wording a bit more, and plan to put it into a presentation, in order to show how it can be used to inform (and demystify) millets. However, please feel free to use or share this as is, if you think it is useful. DO, EL, MI, US

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Number of grain millet farmers in US?
by Don Osborn 04 Sep '22

04 Sep '22

I'm curious to know more about the numbers of producers growing grain millets (broadly defined) in North America, with focus here on the US. That would mean proso millet, teff, and sorghum. I'll begin with teff. A while back, I came across mention of there being 11 growers of teff for grain in the US state of Nevada. On this email list, we heard about two growers of grain teff in Oklahoma. There is one in the state if Michigan that I know of. And an article earlier this year/1 said that the Boise, Idaho-based Teff Co. typically worked with 15-20 producers, and was planning to double that number. So, it seems that the overall number of grain teff producers in the US is rather small: "Relatively few U.S. producers grow teff, with almost all production in Nevada or Idaho..."/2 Maybe the total number is less than 100? With numbers on this order of magnitude, it would be feasible to manage direct communication for sharing of information (surveys, publicity...). What about the number of grain proso millet producers? I found no figures, but looking at 2019 stats from Colorado - the biggest proso-producing state - we can do some math. If the average farm size there is just over 800 acres,/3 and the total number of acres of proso that year was 320,000 (a banner year),/4 that would mean that 400 average-sized farms devoted entirely to proso could account for the total proso production. However, it seems more likely that producers would devote only part of their land to one such crop. So, for example, 1600 producers in Colorado devoting 200 acres each to proso, could account for the total. So, maybe one could count an average of 1500-2000 producers of proso in that state? (Which would be around 5% of the 38,700 farms and ranches there). So the number of grain proso producers nationally would be in the low thousands? This is a significant number, even if a small percentage of total farmers in the country. The number of sorghum farmers is likely higher. Whatever the actual numbers of producers of grain millets - and any more accurate figures or estimates are welcome - it is useful, I think, to have a clearer picture of the population of farmers in this sector as we plan for the International Year of Millets. DO, EL, MI, US Notes: 1. "Company plans to add teff growers, acreage," by Brad Carlson, The Capital Press, 15 Feb. 2022 https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sectors/grains/company-plans-to-add-teff-gr… 2. "It’s A Teff Little Grain," by Chris Bennett, The Daily Scoop, 1 Nov. 2018 https://www.thedailyscoop.com/news/retail-business/its-teff-little-grain 3. "Ag stats: 2019 farms and land in farms for the USDA mountain states region," Kiowa County Press, (n.d.) https://kiowacountypress.net/content/ag-stats-2019-farms-and-land-farms-usd… 4. "Ag stats: 2019 annual Colorado and U.S. crop summary," Kiowa County Press, (n.d.) https://kiowacountypress.net/content/ag-stats-2019-annual-colorado-and-us-c…

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