Finger millet (Eleusine corcorana)/1/2 was domesticated in the highlands of East Africa, and has also been a major crop in India since ancient times. Worldwide, it is the fourth most cultivated millet, but it is all but absent from fields in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

One of the common names for it in India - "ragi" ("rah-ghee") - is sometimes used more widely as a name for its comestible grains. In its nutritional content, ragi is notably high in calcium.

The finger millet plant is also used for animal forage. And it is the latter use that has attracted researchers in New Mexico and west Texas (Southern High Plains or Southern Great Plains). A 2015 research article/3 discussed its use as feed for dairy cattle (a description of that research is also available/4).

A 2018 research article discussed a field study of 11 accessions of finger millet, with attention to both their potential as forage and for grain production./5 This is still relatively early in the process of developing systems for production of this crop. From the article:

"While finger millet shows a degree of capacity to grow in the SGP [Southern Great Plains], there are issues to be addressed before its use in the region especially the development of management strategies. There is little information regarding the optimal combination of row spacing, the amounts of fertilizers, and water availability for the use of finger millet as both forage and grain crop in the SGP. The current limited availability of seed for the accessions tested here also means there is a need for a seed increase to test the effects of different agronomic factors related to using finger millet as a forage crop at the plot scale. Furthermore, there is a need for information on the growth responses of finger millet in different soils of the region. The small seed size (1.3 to 1.6 mm) of finger millet also presents challenges for identifying the best technology for planting. Such issues must be addressed for the application of finger millet in larger, production-scale settings for hay production and grazing in the SGP."

The latter article was evidently related to the primary author's (G.S. Baath) doctoral research./6

Any further information on this crop anywhere in North America is of interest.

DO

Notes:
  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusine_coracana
  2. Gupta, Sanjay Mohan et al. “Finger Millet: A 'Certain' Crop for an 'Uncertain' Future and a Solution to Food Insecurity and Hidden Hunger under Stressful Environments.” Frontiers in plant science 8, 643. 25 Apr. 2017, https://doi:10.3389/fpls.2017.00643
  3. Gowda, Prasanna H., et al, "Finger Millet: An Alternative Crop for the Southern High Plains," American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2015, 6, 2686-2691 https://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajps.2015.616270
  4. "Finger Millet Shows Promise as Cattle Feed," AgResearch Magazine, USDA, June 2016 https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2016/jun/fingermillet/
  5. Baath, Gurjinder S., et al, "Adaptability and Forage Characterization of Finger Millet Accessions in U.S. Southern Great Plains," Agronomy 2018, 8(9), 177; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8090177
  6. Baath, Gurjinder Singh, "Evaluating capabilities of novel warm-season crops to fill forage deficit periods in the Southern Great Plains," PhD. dissertation, Oklahoma State University, 2019 https://shareok.org/handle/11244/333668