Thanks, Joanna. Good points, to which I'll respond after some general thoughts about this diagram in a dynamic presentation. There's also a question about lessons from the Year of Pulses. Then following my responses, I'll add at the end another diagram, and thoughts about next steps. First, I'm thinking about how such a diagram might be dynamic, calling on a database of info to allow users to create different views (for example shifting names to scientific names or common names in other languages, or geographically zooming in to a country or perhaps region) - variations on the examples given, as well as others, relating to agronomy or nutrition or physical characteristics, for example. All of this being simplified for a broad overview, and designed to make it ... fun. A hypothetical set of use cases could be spun out. At the same time, there are also other graphic approaches that would work with the unique multi-grain nature of the IYM. For example, line up images of typical forms of millets by height (or within a species, line up a range of varieties, also by height). Grain heads and the grains themselves could also be treated similarly (showing for example why a couple of millets are/were called large and the rest, small). An interface with maps could be another logical direction to pursue. For example letting a user look up all regions where one or their particular selection of two or more millets are cultivated, or what the import/export flows of millet grains looks like, or for that matter the paleobotany of millets across regions and time. So, imagining a website with all these images and graphics, with various potential user-requested displays relying on a database, it would be logical to think also of how to generate data presentations. For example, someone wants to compare typical nutritional profiles of two to, say, four different millets, they could select that function and click on some set of images of the plants or seeds, or boxes in the triangle diagram, to generate side-by-side displays. (Quality of the data on nutrition, including as you've pointed out elsewhere, the variations within species, would have to be very high and current.) Anyway, the multiplicity of millets makes the topic more complicated, but it also presents opportunities that a focus on a single grain might not. There has been some discussion of lessons from International Year of Quinoa (2013), and such are certainly important. At the same time, are there lessons for us from the International Year of Pulses (2016) on how to present and discuss a category of crops/foods? Now to your points, again with thanks: * I'll change "importance," which indeed I had meant along the lines of lower and more localized production, and little/no interregional trade. * I need to explore the dimensions of the bird seed market in the overall picture. At the same time, all millets grown in the US and Canada (to the best of my information) are used in some combination of forage / cover crops. Some - namely proso, teff, and sorghum - are also used for grain for food. Some proso grains and foxtail go to two kinds of bird markets - wild and domesticated. Proso grain is also being promoted as animal feed. I will review uses of browntop - a prominent use is for wildlife, but I need to confirm on-farm use for forage/cover. The configuration of cultivation and uses of millets in North America (and here mainly US) has unique features * The example diagrams are intended to be broad-brush, but the issues you raise point out how such an approach can run afoul of specifics. The example Africa diagram actually might benefit from panning out to the whole continent, and then using different colors for more or less local millets (teff in Ethiopia & Eritrea; fonios in West Africa; Guinea millet supposedly only in one region of Guinea [am seeking more on that]; and finger millet in parts of East and Southern Africa). This example diagram for Mainland China & Taiwan (tricky how to word that) also runs afoul of specifics. Taiwan oil millet appears to be limited only to the island after which it is named. A dynamic diagram would let one focus on just the mainland, or just Taiwan, or for that matter just Shanxi province (where a lot of foxtail is grown) or any other locality for which there is separate data. Anyway, here it is: [Millets-triangle-China2.png] Referenced for this diagram, Frederick J. Simoons, Food in China: A Cultural and Historical Inquiry, CRC Press, 2014. Chapter 3. https://books.google.com/books?id=H0JZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA63&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=... & Wikipedia, "Spodiopogon formosanus" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spodiopogon_formosanus (accessed 6 Aug 2022) At this point I think I need to rework the base diagram per my previous on this topic, before taking it to other fora. In the meantime, please anyone feel free to share any of the diagrams judiciously All the best, Don ------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, August 7th, 2022 at 6:03 AM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote:
Hi Don This is brilliant. Creative and very clear and interesting to follow.
I have a few technical points.
- you mention below "Below that are millets that are of lesser importance,...". I like to always avoid saying something is more/less "Important" and instead use the specific work that is meant. EG usually people say a crop is more important when they actually mean it has higher production. There is a big difference as this does not take into account the value of nutrition, environment etc. -
In the diagram "Grown in US and Canada for": maybe split this by: - mainly food
- mainly feed/fodder
- mainly bird food
- In the diagram "As major crops in Africa:"
- I think that pearl millet is East as well as West Africa - Maybe change Teff to just say Ethiopia and not East Africa
Hope this helps. Regards Joanna
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of Don Osborn via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Sent: Sunday, August 7, 2022 2:44 AM To: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: [Collab] Diagram for visualizing millets as a group
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
