July 2026 - Collab - lists.millets2023.space

Comparisons of proso millet & fonio in beers?
by Don Osborn 25 Aug '26

25 Aug '26

I'm not a beer drinker, but as an advocate for millets, I can't help but be interested in the prominent roles of two of them in brewing of beers: proso millet and fonio. Of course, for ages people have been fermenting various millets, like grains in general, to make different types of alcoholic beverages. However I think that among millets, only proso and fonio are prominently used make the kind of clear beers that are served on tap or bottled/canned. (There have been experiments with pearl millet, notably in India.) Searching online, I found no articles comparing the two. So it would be great to hear from anyone who has tried both. In the meantime, I'll pass on the AI summaries (sorry) offered by Duckduckgo and Google, respectively. These are the short descriptions. In each case, one can click for more info):: "Proso millet beer and fonio beer differ primarily in their base ingredients and flavor profiles. Proso millet beer is made from proso millet, which has a more earthy taste, while fonio beer, made from fonio grain, offers unique fruity notes and a lighter, more refreshing flavor" https://duckduckgo.com/?ia=web&origin=funnel_home_website&hps=1&q=compare+p… "Proso millet beer and fonio beer are both unique, gluten-free ancient grain brews, but they differ significantly in origin, flavor profiles, and processing demands. Fonio beer offers vibrant tropical fruit notes like lychee and requires no milling, whereas proso millet beer utilizes a traditional commodity grain requiring specialized malting or processing to convert starches." https://www.google.com/search?q=compare+proso+millet+beer+and+fonio+beer Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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Meet The Ryzosphere: live platform walkthrough with Joni & Finian, plus Q&A
by Joni Kindwall-Moore 13 Aug '26

13 Aug '26

Hello! We'd love to show you what we have built and what is coming next! Whether you are new to The Ryzosphere or already using the platform, this webinar if for you. Join 🎬 Finian Makepeace (CCO) and me, 🌱 Joni Kindwall-Moore (CEO), for one or more of our upcoming webinars. 📅 Wednesdays: July 22nd or 29th Or August 5th or 12th. 🕑 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT 📍 Register Here for the Webinar <https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VMZvAy38RISgiNLq7SZJXg#/registration> In 30 minutes (demo) + 15 minutes (Q&A), you'll see: - Why businesses and community organizations are signing up - Demo of how our platform works - Our map with 29,845 data points (and growing!) and how it works in practice - How to activate your business (your first year is free), or join as a community partner - Answers to your questions, live It's a good chance to meet the team and explore The Ryzosphere. Reply to this email: - If you have a question you would like to have answered during the Q&A. - If you can't make one of the webinars and want to meet with a member of our team, schedule a meeting with Greta <https://calendar.app.google/xLhwkaiZekaEBxfM7> aka GG. What we need from you: Share! 🤝 Please forward this email to any of your colleagues, friends, or others who you think would like to join us! Check out our LinkedIn! Get to know more about me, 🌱 Joni Kindwall-Moore <https://www.linkedin.com/in/joni-kindwall-moore/>, and my co-host 🎬 Finian Makepeace <https://www.linkedin.com/in/finian-makepeace-88b636153/>. *This email was written by a human, and a human will respond to this email. 😎 Rooting for our future! Joni Joni Kindwall-Moore Founder/CEO The Ryzosphere www.theryzosphere.io Let's connect! 30 min meeting <https://calendar.app.google/2G9qLFR1jKLL3So89> Cell-WhatsApp: 406-334-1608 *Intelligent Matchmaking for the Food and Ag System* The Ryzosphere <https://theryzosphere.io/> / Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/the.ryzosphere/> / Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/theryzosphere> / LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/greta-gissel/> [image: Embedded image] *The Ryzosphere: **In healthy ecosystems, the rhizosphere is the underground network that enables life to coordinate, share resources, and grow. It's one of the most biologically active environments on Earth. The food system needs that same connective infrastructure. The Ryzosphere is building the coordination layer that makes regenerative, resilient food systems economically viable at scale. As digitization becomes unavoidable, the winners will be those who own visibility, coordination, and trust. **Greek: rhiza (root) and sphere (zone of influence)* 784 S. Clearwater Loop #4597 Post Falls, ID 83854 Opt out <https://the-ryzosphere.attio-mail.com/u/eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCI…> of future emails.

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3 recent items on fonio (business, feature & research)
by Don Osborn 25 Jul '26

25 Jul '26

Here are three items on fonio: a business announcement; a feature article on fonio in West Africa; and a research article on the histories of the two fonios. Fonio is our millet of themonth in July. 1. "Premium Gold and Terra Ingredients Announce Launch of New Retail Fonio Products in the U.S.," Business Wire, 16 Jun 2026 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616061897/en/Premium-Gold-and-T… . The kicker on this news release: "Premium Gold and Terra Ingredients unite to bring responsibly sourced fonio to market with a shared commitment to traceability, farmer partnerships, and regenerative agriculture." Minneapolis-based Terra Ingredients deals in various food and feed products, and is a prominent player in the sourcing and importation of fonio, and "the only large volume fonio supplier." See https://terraingredients.com/fonio/ . Premium Gold is a North Dakota-based agriculture and food processing company specializing in CPG and bulk products (notably golden flax). They plan to market "Natural White Fonio in 10 oz and 2.2 lb stand-up pouches." 2. "Fonio, The Answer to Food Security in West Africa and The Sahel," by Pauline Kuranchie," Human Rights Research Center, 16 June 2026 https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/fonio-the-answer-to-food-security-… This article features Chef Fatmata Binta Bah, "an award-winning chef, founder of the Fulani Kitchen Foundation, and FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa," who was also one of the chefs spotlighted in the International Year of Millets. It gives an intro to fonio and discusses the cuisine of her ethnic group, the Fulani. (I would treat the characterizations of the Fulani in this article with caution: while there is an indisputable underlying cultural unity, there is also a lot of variation in the local cutures and livelihoods pursued by them.) Fonio, in any event, is present across West Africa, including south of the Sahel, and familiar to many ethnic groups. But it varies in its relative local importance and in the forms it is used (the ways fonio is processed and prepared in say the Akposso area in southern Togo are very different from those in the Futa Jalon in Guinea). The article's title's reference to fonio as "the answer" is reframed more modestly in its text as "one of the answers." Any discussion of food security in the Sahel begins with pearl millet production, which is ubiquitous in the region. Fonio's role has apparently increased in importance over the last 3 decades or so (see graph in article), and that is due in very large part to development and improvement of mechanical means to overcome the bottleneck of dehulling. The article has a very nice glossary at the end. 3. Kaczmarek, T., Cubry, P., Champion, L. et al. "Independent domestication and cultivation histories of two West African indigenous fonio millet crops." Nature Communications 16, 4067 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59454-2 This is a more technical article, getting into the origins of white fonio ("acha"), Digitaria exilis, which is what is marketed internationally, and black fonio ("iburu"), D. iburua, which is local in parts of eastern West Africa. ABSRACT: "Crop evolutionary history and domestication processes are key issues for better conservation and effective use of crop genetic diversity. Black and white fonio (Digitaria iburua and D. exilis, respectively) are two small indigenous grain cereals grown in West Africa. The relationship between these two cultivated crops and wild Digitaria species is still unclear. Here, we analyse whole genome sequences of 265 accessions comprising these two cultivated species and their close wild relatives. We show that white and black fonio were the result of two independent domestications without gene flow. We infer a cultivation expansion that began at the outset of the CE era, coinciding with the earliest discovered archaeological fonio remains in Nigeria. Fonio population sizes declined a few centuries ago, probably due to a combination of several factors, including major social and agricultural changes, intensification of the slave trade and the introduction of new, less labour-intensive crops. The key knowledge and genomic resources outlined here will help to promote and conserve these neglected climate-resilient crops and thereby provide an opportunity to tailor agriculture to the changing world." The full author list FYI & for the benefit of future searches: Thomas Kaczmarek, Philippe Cubry, Louis Champion, Sandrine Causse, Marie Couderc, Julie Orjuela, Edak A. Uyoh, Happiness O. Oselebe, Stephen N. Dachi, Charlotte O. A. Adje, Emmanuel Sekloka, Enoch G. Achigan-Dako, Abdou R. Ibrahim Bio Yerima, Sani Idi Saidou, Yacoubou Bakasso, Baye M. Diop, Mame C. Gueye, Richard Y. Agyare, Joseph Adjebeng-Danquah, Mathieu Gueye, Jan J. Wieringa, Yves Vigouroux, Claire Billot, Adeline Barnaud & Christian Leclerc -- Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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Fwd: NAMA community in The Ryzosphere
by Don Osborn 10 Jul '26

10 Jul '26

Dear all, Here is Joni's intro to The Ryzosphere for NAMA. NAMA seeks to promote millets as sustainable crops and nutritious foods, and an important part of that effort is building the business community involved in their production, processing, and marketing. The Ryzosphere, as Joni explains, has a broader mission, not limited to millets. The overlap is handled by the communities feature within the larger Ryzosphere platform - in our case the NAMA Community. This collaboration also facilitates linkages with The Ryzosphere's broader user community. Please check out Joni's message to this list yesterday on the "Meet the Ryzosphere" opportunities to get a live "walkthrough" of the platform. Thank you, Joni and The Ryzosphere for making this collaboration possible! Don DO, EL, MI, US NAMA PS- I'll be forwarding these notifications to NAMA's broader mailing list shortly Apologies on the delay. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Joni Kindwall-Moore <info(a)milletsalliance.org> Date: Tue, Jul 7, 2026 at 9:09 AM Subject: NAMA community in The Ryzosphere Hello North American Millets Alliance Community, Over the years, we've watched this remarkable network of thought leadership and innovation in the millets industry grow. We're grateful for your contributions and participation, on the Listserve, in our webinars, and across social media. Many of you have told us you'd like more visibility into the millets movement in the U.S. In response, we've formed a community on a new digital platform called The Ryzosphere. The Ryzosphere <https://theryzosphere.io/> is a digital community for the food and agriculture system, designed to help cultivate the success of our businesses, projects, and our shared purpose. There, you can connect with other suppliers, seed breeders, researchers and professionals in the millets industry. We will develop our community for the advancement of millets there so if you enjoy our Listserve and webinars, please join us in The Ryzosphere! Joining the community is free, and it's a great way to network with fellow NAMA members. You'll also have the option to activate your business and participate in The Ryzosphere's expanded community, which includes a marketplace advanced AI-matchmaking and more. We sent you an invitation from notifications(a)theryzosphere.io. It is probably in your spam folder. If you did not get a notification, please reply to this email and let me know. Thanks so much. As always, if you have any questions, just let me know- I am also happy to jump on a call to discuss. Here is my calendar. <https://calendar.app.google/q9yzrmB2NGQFZJfc6> -- North American Millets Alliance Team Joni Kindwall-Moore, co-founder 406-334-1608 This is what the NAMA Community in the Ryzosphere looks like [image: Screenshot 2026-07-07 at 7.07.30 AM.png]

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The place of sorghum among the millets
by Don Osborn 04 Jul '26

04 Jul '26

If you do a search on "is sorghum a millet?" you'll likely come up with a negative response that pivots on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) being botanically (taxonomically) more closely related to corn than it is to other millets. The larger botanical picture, however, is more complicated. Also, we also know that outside of North America especially, many consider sorghum among the millets - it was included in the International Year of Millets (2023) and is NAMA's millet-of-the-month in June. What is the case for including sorghum among the millets? On the botanical side, I've pointed out previously that while it is true that sorghum, like corn, is in the Andropogoneae tribe,/1 so too are adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi) and the rare but interesting Taiwan oil millet (Spodiopogon formosanus). Moreover, there are two other millets that are in an entirely different sub-family of Poaceae (the botanical grass family that includes all grains) - namely finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and teff (Erogrostis tef). WHich is to say, that they are more outliers than the Andropogoneae group. So, the botanical / taxonomic argument that sorghum should not be considered a millet doesn't really hold up. If we are to draw line between millets and not millets, it can't be solely on the basis of taxonomic proximity./2 The category of "millets" is in some ways a "folk taxonomy," largely shaped by history, culture, and language. So where does sorghum fall in these respects? Among its common names historically have been "great millet," "Indian millet," and "Egyptian millet" (although for the latter two it's possibly more complicated). On the other hand, it has also been called "Guinea corn," and one variety, "broomcorn" (the term "broomcorn millet" as I understand it, then compares proso millet - Panicum miliaceum - back to sorghum, based on the use obvious in the names). For some years, I've seen sorghum and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum / Cenchrus americanus) grouped as "major millets" as opposed to the many "minor millets" or "small millets" which as a general rule, have their grains in hard hulls./3 In these respects, it seems hard to separate sorghum out from the millets. In terms of production and extent of cultivation, sorghum is in a class by itself. The volume of grain sorghum harvested is roughly twice that of all other millets combined. On the other hand, its production is about a tenth of that of any of the major cereal grains. In terms of water use, it is comparable to many of the millets - which is to say, it needs less to produce than major cereal grains./4 In terms of marketing and consumer acceptance as food in North America, sorghum faces similar challenges to those of other millets. The latter is, for me, the most important consideration for NAMA continuing to include sorghum among the millets. At the same time, since sorghum in the US has an important, funded infrastructure for its promotion as a crop and food, we don't need to spend as much of our limited time and resources on promoting it. Ultimately, however, we don't need a debate on whether sorghum is or isn't a millet (maybe both are true?). My personal perspective is that sorghum and each of the other millets are individual grains that can play more important roles in our agriculture and food cultures. The category of millets, even if it might be a bit more fluid and even contested at its margins, facilitates our discussion of all of them in the future of food and ag. Notes: 1. Botanical hierarchy: … > Family > Sub-family > Tribe > Genus > Species 2. On the other hand, the more recent inclusion by some in India of certain pseudo-cereals - notably amaranth and buckwheat - among the millets goes too far, in my opinion. These are in an entirely different botanical family. Some have also used the term "pseudo-millets," but this term is not generally accepted, and in any event, is redundant to the accepted term of pseudo-cereals 3. Finger millet is an interesting exception, and in some recent literature, it is grouped among the "major millets." 4. Proso millet and pearl millet, however, are the most adapted of all the millets to hot and dry conditions. Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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