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Interesting definition/description of "millet(s), " plus comments
by Don Osborn 24 Oct '22

24 Oct '22

While I'm working on a couple of posts that are taking longer than expected (in that Pareto last 10%), here is an interesting definition/description of millets by archaeologist & professor of archaeobotany, Dorian Q. Fuller/1 from the Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology:/2 "Millet is an imprecise English term applied to a large number of smaller-grained, largely tropical cereals that are often distantly related. Millets tend to be small-seeded cereals, i.e., distinct from wheat, barley, oats, rice, and maize. Sorghum is sometimes included with millets (in Indian English it is the 'great millet'). Taxonomically speaking 'millet-grasses' refers to grasses in the Panicoid subfamily and the Paniceae tribe, but not all traditional millet crops are in this group. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and tef (Eragrostis tef) are in the Chloridoid subfamily. Although a few millet species have been cultivated in Europe, they are generally less important economically and culturally, leading to poor linguistic differentiation in European languages, e.g., French *millet*, German *hirse*, and Spanish *mijo*. "Millets have received far less research than the 'big' cereals (rice, wheat, and barley). Indeed statistics on millet production are very poor, ..." The above is all I have access to at this time. Some of the wording here might be adapted for press kits, I think. No arguments on the particulars of this excerpt, but some added info. * Current lists of millets also include members of the Andropogonae tribe of the Panicoid subfamily (Panicoideae). Namely sorghum (already mentioned by Prof. Fuller), and two less well known grains: Job's tears or adlay millet; and Taiwan oil millet. * Some sources apparently put kodo millet in the Paspaleae tribe of the Panicoid subfamily/3 * I really appreciate his mention of the linguistic dimension of this category, but the millets namespace in both French/4 and Spanish/5 are slightly more involved, as I explored on my intermittent blog last February. That I'm looking at and citing a work on archeology underscores the interdisciplinary & cross-specialization nature of our work. Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US North American Millets Alliance don(a)milletsalliance.org Notes: 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorian_Fuller 2. Fuller, D.Q. (2014). Millets: Origins and Development. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2181 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paspalum_scrobiculatum 4. https://donosborn.org/blog/2022/iyom2023-in-french-mils-et-ou-millets/ 5. https://donosborn.org/blog/2022/iyom2023-in-spanish-los-mijos/

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Brief presentation about NAMA
by Don Osborn 23 Oct '22

23 Oct '22

The North American Millets Alliance (NAMA) held a Zoom meeting on Friday 21 Oct. for a number of invited participants. As part of the meeting, there was a short & simple PowerPoint presentation of several slides about millets and about proposals and concepts NAMA is working on. That is attached in PDF format for your information (with apologies to those among the list subscribers who have received it already) We are planning a follow-up meeting for 17 Nov. Please contact me off list if you want more info (if you attended on 21 Oct., you should have already received notice). Thank you and all the best, Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance don(a)milletsalliance.org

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Sorghum & teff officially in International Year of Millets (2023)
by Don Osborn 20 Oct '22

20 Oct '22

I'd heard this from another source a little while ago, but it is official that both sorghum and teff are considered among the millets, or if you prefer, the grains that will be promoted during the International Year of Millets. I don't have an online reference for teff, but here's one for sorghum (with thx to Nate Blum): https://www.morningagclips.com/nebraska-grain-sorghum-board-commends-the-un… Just what counts as a "millet" is often a matter of discussion, with some including or not including sorghum and/or teff. We have suggested that "millets' is a kind of folk taxonomy - it is clearly not a clear botanical category - which usefully serves to identify a class of grains. For the International Year of Millets, the FAO is apparently using a definition of small dryland grains in the Poaceae (grass) family. More on that later. Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US - +1 202-621-3911) North American Millets Alliance don(a)milletsalliance.org

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Re: [Collab] New diagram for visualizing millets as a group
by Don Osborn 03 Oct '22

03 Oct '22

Here's an updated version of the diagram shared last month. The only changes have been in the explanatory text on the right of the triangle. This version is preferable to use or share if you find the concept useful. A full presentation of this schematic, with examples of uses, along the lines of what I shared on this list on 6 August, is coming. (Yes this is taking longer than planned.) DO ------- Original Message ------- On Tuesday, September 6th, 2022 at 2:33 PM, Don Osborn via Collab < collab(a)lists.millets2023.space> wrote: 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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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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Kodo millet (& how about comparative taste tests?)
by Don Osborn 31 Aug '22

31 Aug '22

I cooked up some kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) for demo last May (photo) and again last week to compare taste with proso millet (Panicum miliaceum). As far as I know, kodo millet is not grown at all as a crop in North America. In fact, it apparently is considered a weed. Curiously, although the plant originated in Africa, it is a food crop only in parts of South and Southeast Asia. The kodo millet I cooked came from India, and was packaged under one of several Indian labels marketing this grain: Incept. I used a simple automatic rice cooker and it cooked fine - easy to dish out (like rice) and break up. The grains are about the size of proso, but the color of what I had was a light brown (main varieties of proso are yellow). I found kodo's taste to be mild. Oddly, the word that came to mind was "mature" (you can see why I'm not a food writer). When I did a taste test with proso the other day, I found the latter also mild but having that faintly "nutty" taste that is often mentioned. I had to think about it, but there was slightly more going on with proso on taste buds on the side and middle of my tongue. Kodo seemed more subtle, in a comparison of subtle tastes. This taste comparison experience has me thinking that it would be interesting to have some culinary experts - real food writers - do blind taste tests of cooked millets, and perhaps some baked goods or porridges made with them, in order to get some taste characterizations useful for discussion of millets' unique characteristics. From what I've seen in some literature (but not an actual study of that literature), tests of how people react to the taste of millets in various forms and products are not rare. However, I don't recall seeing anything where two or more millets were evaluated for taste in comparison to each other. Such comparisons might be especially useful in markets where millets in general are not well known, and there is no culinary experience with the range of types of millets. DO, EL, MI, US

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Articles that mix "millet" & "millets" to the point of confusion
by Don Osborn 30 Aug '22

30 Aug '22

One of several things I've been thinking about is a kind of press package about the International Year of Millets. There are several considerations in preparing press packages, but one theme I think will be useful for any guidelines for journalists writing in English will be encouragement to use the plural "millets" when referring to the generic category, and not the singular form "millet." The latter form may of course be appropriate when referring to specific crops / foods, so clarity on what one is writing about, and how it might be (mis)read is central. In support of this process, I began a couple of months ago to put together some "data" on articles which infortuitously mix the plural and singular forms in ways that can't but be confusing to general readership. A first attempt at presenting the latter, with comments, is in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, which is attached, in ppt & pdf formats. Your feedback will be helpful and appreciated. Thank you in advance, and best to all, DO, EL, MI, US

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Diagram for visualizing millets as a group
by Don Osborn 07 Aug '22

07 Aug '22

Last April I put together a diagram to help inform thinking about a "millet-of-the-month" calendar. Recently I returned to it as a possible way of illustrating the relative importance of all millets globally, and of conveying information about which ones among this group of over a dozen species are grown in different world regions. The base diagram, below, is a triangle (or pyramid), with the most produced and consumed towards the top, and the less produced and more local ones toward the base. There are 4 layers to the diagram. I have included sorghum, which is sometimes counted as a millet, and it occupies the top (point), since its production worldwide is by far greater than any of the other individual millets. If sorghum were not included, pearl millet would be at the top, as it apparently accounts for about half the worldwide production of all millets (aside from sorghum). The next layer includes the four most produced grains surnamed "millet" - pearl, foxtail, proso, and finger. Below that are millets that are of lesser importance, but are grownin more than one region and/or traded to limited degrees. And finally on the fourth level are millets that are local or rarely cultivated today. This is a subjective ranking, based on impressions from figures and other information (a more complete discussion of possible improvements is at the end of this email). The diagram itself is rough and would need a design makeover if wider use were envisioned. [Millets-triangle.png] The use of color coding allows us to convey certain information about this group of grains. For example, which of three botanical "tribes" they belong to: [Millets-triangle-tribes-color.png] Similarly, we can illustrate the origins of these various millets: [Millets-triangle-continent-origins.png] The above two color-coding exercises indicate that it might be helpful to rearrange millets within each line in order to group as much as possible related millets and geographical origins. Continuing with the same layout, however, we can then proceed to illustrating what millets are and aren't important as crops in various world regions. Two examples only in this email. First, that of North America (in this case, Indian and Japanese barnyard are both grown, indicating that these closely-related and sometimes confused species should have separate boxes): [Millets-triangle-USandCanada.png] And second, an illustration of important millets in West and East Africa. I've combined them here since they are largely complementary, but they could be two separate treatments. Southern Africa is a bit complicated as to what is grown where, and I am not as familiar with that region, so that will be for another diagram. [Millets-triangle-WandEAfrica.png] Such regional or even country level diagrams could help in giving at-a-glance information about what millets are important where and in what ways. I may follow with more examples, time permitting. Your feedback on any aspect of the above will be helpful. In the meantime, here are some areas for attention that I see: * Possible accompanying document with data supporting the placement of various millets on each level * Rearrangement of millets to correspond a bit better with botanical relationships (e.g., Andropogonae in the 4th level both in the left corner & Eragrostideae along the right side, with others in occupying the middle spaces) * Rearrangement of millets to correspond a bit better to geographical origins (probably Asia to the left, and Africa to the right) * Placement of millets of the same genus (e.g., proso & little) in adjacent boxes to the extent possible * Split barnyard & fonio each into two (black fonio would probably go to the bottom line, if indeed it is less cultivated and not exported) * More details on very minor millets for example in Setaria or Panicum that were of significance in some localities (e.g., in North America) in the past * Design makeover with thinner dividing lines Thank you for reading, and I look forward to any feedback, DO, EL, MI, US

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