Thank you, Gary, This is indeed useful information - on the numbers, the sources, and limitations of reported data. Regarding the numbers, it still seems as if the grain teff : grain proso : grain sorghum numbers of growers are in a power (10x) relationship. But still important to have the better estimate of sorghum growers I wonder why the U.S. Census couldn't collapse the county data into either a group category (several neighboring counties) or the next highest level (state, of course). Iunderstand the issues with reporting responses where there are so few that they might be individually identifiable, but in this case there would seem to be a workaround that would make the overall totals closer to reality, and more useful. It would be useful I think to pull together estimates of numbers - growers (for all purposes, & of grain), acreage (for all purposes, & of grain), and bushels harvested (when it pertains to grain, of course. Just thinking of ways to shed more light on this sector. Regarding teff, given that it is grown for forage in about half the US states (and now in parts of Canada as well), my guess would be that the number of all growers would be much higher than those harvesting grain for food. On the policy level, the question is how one could institute a survey of millets by type - either private or preferably integrated into the regular public surveys. Best to all, Don DO, EL, MI, US NAMA On Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 2:49 PM Dipak Santra via Collab < collab@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:
Gary:
Very useful information. I did not know such inside info regarding the USDA reported data. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Regards,
Dipak
Dipak Santra, Ph.D.
*Professor (Alternative Crops Breeding Specialist)*
President, International Broomcorn Millet Association
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Panhandle Research & Extension Center
4502 Ave I, Scottsbluff, NE 69361
*(*308) 632-124 <3086321372>4 (work) / (*308) 765-2324* (cell)
*From:* Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> *On Behalf Of *Gary Wietgrefe via Collab *Sent:* Monday, July 22, 2024 7:42 AM *To:* collab@lists.millets2023.space *Subject:* Re: [Collab] Collab Digest, Vol 30, Issue 18
*Caution:* Non-NU Email
Regarding the number of farmers harvesting various millet seeds in the U.S., you may be close on 100 teff, 1,000 proso, but off on sorghum which likely has over 20,000 farmers harvesting some type of sorghum (grain, forage, syrup) in 2022.
Sorghum, with the largest acreages in the "millet" category may be more accurate with 13,591 farms harvesting sorghum GRAIN in 40 states in 2022, and 15,339 harvesting grain sorghum in 42 states in 2017 according to U.S. Census data. See USDA/NASS QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/84AA43ED-B8D7-3B6C-B9C7-E4204AF061C4__;!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!HU0iVGhqc2xlNHztDrgkMOsBLUWE8-84kMXPrVXSSmtwew6m2rbUHpcGowDaTNvLKmx3nSxoQFo279BGdJaKpxUVIc5Lcw$> .
I would venture to guess there are less than 100 farms harvesting each of these millets--Japanese, browntop, and hybrid pearl for seed. There are perhaps two million acres of those last three types planted each year for various uses (grazing, forage, wildlife, cover crops being the main uses). U.S.D.A. does not collect data on these types of millet.
Except for sorghum grain producers, the best documented data is for proso millet using the U.S. Census as reported by National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA every five years from 1997 to 2022. See USDA/NASS QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/CA44A51B-D24B-374F-ADCF-38D87661315B__;!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!HU0iVGhqc2xlNHztDrgkMOsBLUWE8-84kMXPrVXSSmtwew6m2rbUHpcGowDaTNvLKmx3nSxoQFo279BGdJaKpxW0wjb3iQ$> .
Be extremely cautious using census data for extracting proso production. The reason is that USDA will not publish total acres or production of any crop for a county when there are few producers (under 5?) in each county. For example, in the 2022 Census report there were 509,152 thousand acres of proso harvested in 21 states by 1,180 producers. However, NO!!! acres reported from South Dakota even thou NASS annual statistics shows South Dakota is the third largest state producing proso. The reason why is that proso, when it is planted, is from large acreages by few producers.
Also, I find US Census data extremely haphazard, and inconsistent regarding proso collection. For example, there were 21 states reporting proso production in 2022 from 1,180 farms, 26 states in 2017 with 1,004 farms, but only 6 states in 1997 with 1,660 farms.
Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive survey of millet production by type and use in the U.S. and never has been....Gary Wietgrefe
On Sat, Jul 20, 2024 at 8:50 AM <collab-request@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: National Public Radio on millets, June 8, 2023 (Don Osborn) 2. Early history of proso millet in Europe (2022 book) (Don Osborn)
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Message: 1 Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2024 10:33:19 -0400 From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> To: "collab@lists.millets2023.space" <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Cc: "Myers, Robert L." <myersrob@missouri.edu> Subject: Re: [Collab] National Public Radio on millets, June 8, 2023 Message-ID: <CA+RHibWV8O_1oqLUd2iD4Qw6mtvnNO9dVtNH= bQt2Ea1YBrtRA@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Thank you, Rob, for this clarification and additional information.
I'm wondering how many growers in the US produce seed for Japanese (barnyard) millet, Echinochloa esculenta - for marketing for any purpose - and how many produce seed for billion dollar grass (Indian barnyard millet), E. frumentacea? In the absence of figures, any guesses?
A while back, I did a back-of-napkin estimate based on some conversations, that there might be on the order of just under 100 growers of grain teff in the US, just under 1000 growers of proso millet, and something under 10,000 growers of grain sorghum. More accurate numbers would be interesting and useful, but in their absence, a reasonable set of estimates add a human dimension to estimates of acres planted and bushels harvested.
All the best,
Don
DO, EL, MI, US NAMA
On Thu, Jul 18, 2024 at 1:01?PM Myers, Robert L. <myersrob@missouri.edu> wrote:
Don,
I am quite familiar with Linus Rothermic and have been on his farm a few times, including viewing his Japanese millet fields and talking to him about that crop.
He has worked for many years with one particular buyer on millet for many years who is engaged with seed sales for the wildlife seed industry. So I think most of the Japanese millet seed he produces was in the past used for wildlife planting such as to attract ducks. However, more recently, Japanese millet has been used in cover crop plantings, particularly mixes of cover crops, so it wouldn?t surprise me if the buyer that Linus sells to is also reselling some for cover crop use. I don?t know the name of the buyer.
Rob
*From: *Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> *Date: *Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 11:47?AM *To: *"collab@lists.millets2023.space" <collab@lists.millets2023.space> *Subject: *Re: National Public Radio on millets, June 8, 2023
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-clima... <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/agupdate.com/agriview/news/crop/millets-could-aid-in-surviving-climate-change/article_8ff16c50-2f15-11ef-baca-332fa1b77163.html__;!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!HU0iVGhqc2xlNHztDrgkMOsBLUWE8-84kMXPrVXSSmtwew6m2rbUHpcGowDaTNvLKmx3nSxoQFo279BGdJaKpxXv9npvnw$>
2. You can see the old thread with the same title as this posting in Collab's June 2023 archive: https://lists.millets2023.space/pipermail/collab/2023-June/thread.html
3. "Linus Rothermich, Auxvasse, MO," National Association of Conservation Districts, (no date) https://www.nacdnet.org/soil-champs/north-central/linus-rothermich/
bcc: Rob Myers
On Sun, Jun 11, 2023 at 12:47?AM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:
Thank you, David, I appreciate your sharing this. It's of course another version of the radio segment that aired last month on a more local scale (Kansas CIty, apparently):
https://www.kcur.org/2023-05-17/millets-drought-climate-united-nations
Altho shorter, the NPR Morning Edition version captures all the main points. And of course it went out nationally in the US, which is great.
Regarding the content of the segment, I'm particularly curious to know more about the Japanese millet (Echinochloa esculenta) that Linus Rothermich is growing - what are the markets for this grain in North America? I am aware of the plant's use as forage and for wildlife in the US.
TIA for any more info,
Don
DO, EL, MI, US
NAMA
bcc: Rob Myers
On Fri, Jun 9, 2023 at 1:18?PM Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS < david.brenner@usda.gov> wrote:
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-t... <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-the-international-year-of-millets__;!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!HU0iVGhqc2xlNHztDrgkMOsBLUWE8-84kMXPrVXSSmtwew6m2rbUHpcGowDaTNvLKmx3nSxoQFo279BGdJaKpxVoo2vvvA$>
<
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-t... <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-the-international-year-of-millets__;!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!HU0iVGhqc2xlNHztDrgkMOsBLUWE8-84kMXPrVXSSmtwew6m2rbUHpcGowDaTNvLKmx3nSxoQFo279BGdJaKpxVoo2vvvA$>
The United Nations declares 2023 the International Year of Millets <
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-t... <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180964010/the-united-nations-declares-2023-the-international-year-of-millets__;!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!HU0iVGhqc2xlNHztDrgkMOsBLUWE8-84kMXPrVXSSmtwew6m2rbUHpcGowDaTNvLKmx3nSxoQFo279BGdJaKpxVoo2vvvA$>
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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