Great email Don, I appreciate these thoughts On Sun, Jun 16, 2024 at 8:17 PM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:
In his blog, "GatesNotes," Bill Gates recently expressed fascination with millets, and spotlighted fonio, along with mentions of finger millet and teff. This attention to millets as a group (which he associates with the word "magic," twice), and the specificity within it, are appreciated.
"Could a grain older than the wheel be the future of food?: Lost crops like fonio could help us fight climate change and malnutrition." by Bill Gates, Gates Notes: The Blog of Bill Gates, 16 April 2024 https://www.gatesnotes.com/Fonio
Mr. Gates approaches the subject with a particular interest in smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia, reflecting the Gates Foundation's agricultural development focus./1
In much of this piece, Mr. Gates focuses on fonio, including the key problem of dehulling, and how Terra Ingredients (US)/2 partnered with CAA (Senegal) to develop a solution.
Bill Gates is an important, if sometimes controversial, figure in agriculture and food, but it does help for millets to have such high profile attention as we seek to build on the momentum of the International Year.
Regarding the "ancient" (or "older than the wheel") aspect he mentioned, I thought it would be of interest to note that aside from millets being among our first crops, some of them were among the first globalized crops. One can imagine a vast counterclockwise prehistoric spread of pearl millet, sorghum, and finger millet from Africa east to India and beyond, and of foxtail millet and proso millet from China west across Eurasia. Other millets, such as fonio, teff and several in Asia, remained more regional or local over the ages. From that perspective, one could argue that we're entering into a second great globalization of millets, involving new or expanded trade of some, and spread of cultivation of others.
Millets have a legacy of being deeply rooted historically and often culturally, even while they are also readily shared. So as we explore new opportunities with these diverse crops, it is important to respect those roots, as well as their genetic heritage.
Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
Notes: 0. Subject article is cited & linked at the beginning of the text, above. 1. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/programs/global-growth-and-opportun... 2. https://www.terraingredients.com/news/bill-gates-takes-note-of-fonio/
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