Eva Tesfaye's very nice June 2023 Harvest Public Media / NPR piece on millets has just been resurfaced on AgUpdate.com's "Agri-View,"/1 so I'd like to revisit a question posed at that time regarding Japanese (barnyard) millet./2

The article mentioned Missouri farmer Linus Rothermich's growing of Japanese millet (presumably Echinochloa esculenta) for grain. I had wondered what end use(s) the grain had.

Without attempting to contact Mr. Rothermich directly, I did a little more digging, and it seems that he is growing seed for planting this millet as a cover crop./3 In other words, as I understand it, he sells the Japanese millet seed he produces to seed suppliers, which in turn sell to other farmers to plant as cover crops.

In the previous thread on the original NPR article,/2 Dipak suggested that the Japanese millet seed could in principle be dehulled and used for human food. At this time, however, I have no information on commercial production of any barnyard millet for human consumption in North America, but would be most interested to learn of it.

Don Osborn, PhD

(East Lansing, MI, US)

North American Millets Alliance

Notes:

1. "Millets could aid in surviving climate change" by Eva Tesfaye, Harvest Public Media, https://agupdate.com/agriview/news/crop/millets-could-aid-in-surviving-climate-change/article_8ff16c50-2f15-11ef-baca-332fa1b77163.html

2. You can see the old thread with the same title as this posting in Collab's June 2023 archive: https://lists.millets2023.space/pipermail/collab/2023-June/thread.html

3. "Linus Rothermich, Auxvasse, MO," National Association of Conservation Districts, (no date) https://www.nacdnet.org/soil-champs/north-central/linus-rothermich/

bcc: Rob Myers

On Sun, Jun 11, 2023 at 12:47 AM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:

Thank you, David, I appreciate your sharing this. It's of course another version of the radio segment that aired last month on a more local scale (Kansas CIty, apparently):
https://www.kcur.org/2023-05-17/millets-drought-climate-united-nations . Altho shorter, the NPR Morning Edition version captures all the main points. And of course it went out nationally in the US, which is great.

Regarding the content of the segment, I'm particularly curious to know more about the Japanese millet (Echinochloa esculenta) that Linus Rothermich is growing - what are the markets for this grain in North America? I am aware of the plant's use as forage and for wildlife in the US.

TIA for any more info,

Don

DO, EL, MI, US
NAMA

bcc: Rob Myers

On Fri, Jun 9, 2023 at 1:18 PM Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS <david.brenner@usda.gov> wrote:

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-the-international-year-of-millets

The United Nations declares 2023 the International Year of Millets

Millets, an alternative crop to corn and soybeans, is getting new attention in the U.S. The resilient grain could help U.S. farmers survive climate change.

www.npr.org

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