Another fantastic NAMA webinar today. Both Dr. Hazra and Nate Blum discussed the need for local users/processors of millet and sorghums. How to develop them appears too complex. I shouldn't be.
Nate mentioned South Dakota sorghum production is higher than Nebraska because South Dakota has local users for sorghum in birdseed. While on the call, I looked up today's local cash prices at the largest grain elevator in SD. Local cash corn is 7.53 cents/lb., sorghum is 8.25 cents/lb., and proso millet is 7.75 cents/lb. Nationwide, sorghum normally sells at about 95% the value of corn. How are our local prices possible? Nate nailed it--local production, local buyers, local processors/packagers. How was that market created?
In response to disastrously low commodity prices, SD legislature in 1978 created a Marketing Division in the SD Dept. of Agriculture to increase ag prices by promoting what South Dakota produced. I was one of six people hired in that new Division. My responsibilities were mainly grains, seeds, and transportation. We received many calls and letters from growers seeking help. For example, in the fall of 1978 several calls came in from proso millet producers who said they could not get a price. Yes, $0.00 for their proso!
Action: First, I figured out who were the local proso buyers. I connected them with a Canadian exporter who shipped proso through the Great Lakes to Europe (replacing Argentine yellow plata) in the spring of 1979. Secondly, I realized the biggest potential U.S. users of proso were bridseed packagers. With the help of a local sketch artist, Jim Pollock, and my administrative assistant, Deenie Frederick (who by the way introduced me to my wife of 39 years), helped me make a mailer of "Birdfoods of South Dakota" (attached photo you may have noticed on my bookshelf in today's Zoom). Mr. Pollock drew sketches of birds, I collected birdseeds we grew, and Deenie and I cut 2x2" slide holders, filled them with birdseeds, glued them to yellow cardstock with bird sketches, then laminated it. We made 100 and mailed them to all the birdseed packagers, distributors, and SD buyers...and had a few left over including the attached.
Not only did we establish a 40+-year birdseed market for proso, foxtail (I labeled "Red Finch), and sorghum (which at the time had only about three seed sellers in our state), our project converted the U.S. sunflower birdseed from 100% confection (which SD grew hardly any) to 100% black oil sunflowers now sold nationwide. My farming grandson produces sunflowers, sometimes sorghum, and proso which I help combine each fall.
Local farmers, like my grandson, sell to those "local birseed buyers", (Nate Blum mentioned) are all small businesses, none of which have over 10 employees.
In 1978-1982, without Internet, we established a nationwide network using local farmers and businesses. As an ag-businessman and economist, it seems logical to me that Sorghum United, NAMA, or similar organization could put together an on-line directory of millet producers, local buyers, millet users, millet processors, millet shippers, millet exporters, millet product developers/packagers, and etc. to replicate what three of did over four decades ago.....Gary Wietgrefe