An interesting article from The Economic Times (India) on the role of snacks in the evolving millets market in India also appeared on the same page as the piece by Dr. Prabhakar in the Global Eye (#66, 24 Sep. 2025) that I previously mentioned (see below for link). See "Millet Mania: ITC, PepsiCo and startups spice up India's snacking game." The Economic Times (updated 22 Sep. 2025) at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/food/millet-mani... This calls attention to how companies in India are shifting focus to snacks in a "sluggish packaged-food market." It also has some relevance to developments in the US market. Here's a quick tour of some examples in the latter: For example, a number of Kind breakfast protein bars "made with 5 super grains" include "millet" (in this context, certainly proso millet). See https://www.kindsnacks.com/products/breakfast-bars (thanks to Gary for bringing this to our attention). Another example is the Good & Gather brand multibran rice crackers, that also have "millet" (again, certainly proso millet). https://www.target.com/p/gluten-free-multi-grain-with-flax-rice-crackers-3-5... (again, thanks Gary) A couple of years ago on this list I mentioned the line of "millet & flax" pita chips by Sami's Bakery that is marketed nationally through specialty stores: https://www.samisbakery.com/product/millet-flax-plain-chips/ (once again, the "millet" would be proso). https://www.samisbakery.com/product/millet-flax-plain-chips/ Regarding teff. the Teffola granola company also has a "Teffola Bites" line of sweet snacks. https://eatteffola.com/pages/bites I'll also mention Yolélé's venture into fonio chips - interestingly that seems to have been motivated by the desire to have a product suitable for displays in stores. More on that in one of two podcasts featuring Yolélé co-founder Philip Teverow that I'll post separately. Don DO, EL, MI, US NAMA On Wed, Oct 1, 2025 at 10:30 AM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:
Dr. Vijay G. Prabhakar, head of GSA, which held a Global Millets Conclave last month in Hillside, Illinois, recently published an article entitled "Growing more ancient grain millet could help American farmers adapt to climate change" in GSA's online periodical, The Global Eye (#66, page 23) at https://globaleyedigital.com/Newspaper/2025/66/GE-66.pdf ,
GSA's GlobalEye serves readers in the Indian-American community in the US, as well as some in India.
I have a text copy of the article, extracted from the above, that I can share with any who are interested.
This is a good article, outlining important points that are familiar to those of us working on millets (and some of which have been made previously by readers of this list): * Significance of the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023) * Marginalization of millets * Resilience, diversity, and versatility * Potential markets * Lack of crop support in the US * Importance of research * Increased awareness and growing popularity of millets * Economic aspects
Some specific observations on content of the article. * The Missouri farmer growing Japanese millet who was mentioned in the article is probably Linus Rothermich, who was featured in Eva Tesfaye's 2023 piece on IYM2023 (Harvest Public Media / NPR - audio and print versions) - see https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-t... & https://modernfarmer.com/2023/05/millets-midwest-climate-change/ (this item was mentioned on Collab in Nov. 2023) * The quote from Makiko Taguchi comes from that same piece * The item about how an additional $1 million would have a much greater impact on millets research than it would on corn research is the same as what Prof. James Schnable is quoted as saying in that same piece * The annual growth projections in the global millets market may have been sourced from more than one commodity marketing sites - I have seen similar figures in headlines, but not these particular ones
Altogether this is a helpful contribution to the ongoing public discussion of millets in North America. It is especially important, I think, in reminding us of the importance of the Indian-American market for millets, both domestically produced and imported.
Finally, we note that Dr. Prabhakar in his byline, lists himself as Chair, GSA Millets Promotion & Research Council of America. We'll share further information on the latter initiative as we receive it.
Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance