Bronze age European millets article was extremely interesting because millet introduction appeared to enhance civilization, likely by adding more nutrients and diversifying soil use. Any agricultural system used year-after-year, century-after-century depletes available nutrients. Benefits from crop rotation had been well understood since ancient Rome when Cato the Elder published De agri cultura - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_agri_cultura>. As a millet agronomist, here are some basic reasons why millets should be rotated with other crops: *Soil structural changes*: Millets have a fine root system exploring soil and extracting minerals and moisture trapped where large roots from other crops, like corn, have no access. After millet is harvested, its fine roots die allowing soil organisms and angleworms to invade those dead roots. Worms and soil bioenvironment to further break down millets small soil clumps into nutrient and moisture havens for the next crop to access through reduced soil compaction. Millets are shallow rooted which work well in rotation with deep rooted crops like corn and alfalfa and legume crops like soybeans and field peas. Deep rooted crops access nutrients unavailable to millets. After the deep-rooted crops die, their roots also provide worms and soil’s biodiversity to go deeper into the soil profile for water and nutrients while stalks, stems and leaves converted to soil cover get destroyed through biodegradation at the surface where millet can access those previously untapped nutrients. Legumes, like deep-rooted alfalfa, and medium rooted soybeans and field peas convert atmospheric nitrogen to leaf and seed protein and deposit more root and seed nitrogen for subsequent crops. Planting the same crop or two crops (bi-crop monoculture e.g. corn/soybean) creates a system of gradually decreasing grain nutrients because they constantly use the same soil profile while allowing pests to get comfortable in that cycle. *Soil Compaction*: Flooded soils are compacted as air is removed from natural soil composition. Crops like rice (100% irrigated in the U.S.), and irrigated corn, especially flood irrigated, cause soil compaction. Machinery tracks over water-logged soils compact the soil even more. Rather than using mechanical deep tillage to break some of that man-made compaction, millets and legumes should be rotated with rice and irrigated corn to use plant roots to naturally disrupt compaction from previous crops. *Disrupt pests*: Weeds are pest and naturally look for environments to grown and produce seed. Corn’s slow-growing seedlings in wide rows allow cool season grasses and broadleaf weeks an opportunity to germinate. Hence, billions-of-dollars-per-year are spent on purchasing, applying and ever-expanding research to find new pre and post emergent herbicides to combat weed pests cycles that can be managed through crop rotation. An example could be cool-season field peas planted and harvested early followed by warm-season millets planted as a second crop rather than just one corn crop. Soybeans could be planted the second year followed by corn in a four-crop/three-year rotation. Fungi and nematode pests are somewhat crop specific. For example, soybean cyst nematodes attack soybeans and decrease soybean yields. That is why soybeans are never continuously planted year-after-year-after-year. Millets are not susceptible to soybean cyst nematodes—in fact millet disrupt the cyst cycle and decrease soybean cyst populations. Likewise, fungi causing sudden death syndrome in soybeans (possibly stimulated by soybean cyst nematode) is not a problem in millets. *Change row spacing*: Corn performs best in wide rows (usually 30 inch rows) with some hybrids yielding best in 20 or 15 inch rows. Corn farmers that rotate with soybeans almost always use the same planter. Consequently, soybeans get planted at the same row width. Small-seeded grain millets, like proso and foxtail, perform best in narrow rows (6-10 inch spacing). Rotating crops with various row spacings and deep and shallow root systems access nutrients and moisture in the full soil profile. *Crop rotation = Agronomic diversity*: Rotating crops of different crop species with wide and narrow rows benefit all the categories above: · more nutrient and micronutrient availability; · access to more nutrients and moisture in the full soil profile; · keep a specific pest from overwhelming the intended crop; · increase soil biodiversity; · reducing human-caused compaction; and · decreasing pest pressures (weeds, insects, fungi, nematodes, etc.). On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 8:52 PM <collab-request@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Additional webinar segment & links (Re: Jan. 15 Millets Webinar: A discussion with Leon Kriesel on proso & more) (Don Osborn) 2. Proso millet improved life in late Bronze Age Europe (Don Osborn) 3. "Water Shortage Cure--Millets," article by Gary Wietgrefe (Don Osborn)
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Message: 1 Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2026 22:22:54 -0500 From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> Subject: [Collab] Additional webinar segment & links (Re: Jan. 15 Millets Webinar: A discussion with Leon Kriesel on proso & more) To: "NAMA's Collab list" <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Message-ID: < CA+RHibWkmVta3G8d4y9ubk3a87qF2zs9BS8XivTLzfDoELrvrQ@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Here's the link to another 16 minutes of conversation on millets - and particularly proso - with Leon Kriesel. This was recorded after the formal webinar itself was completed, so is kind of a bonus. Thanks to Leon for staying with us for this:
Also, two links of interest relating to this webinar production. First a link to the Kriesel Certified Seed website: www.krieselcertifiedseed.com
... and second, an article discussing UNL's waxy proso millet variety that Leon grows: "Waxy millet varieties may tap new human food markets," by Curt Arens, Farm Progress, 8 Dec. 2023
https://www.farmprogress.com/crops/waxy-millet-varieties-may-tap-new-human-f...
DO, EL, MI, US NAMA
On Tue, Jan 20, 2026 at 12:38 AM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:
For our first webinar of 2026, we've taken a different approach - shorter and without audience.
Our guest, Leon Kriesel of Kriesel Certified Seed in western (panhandle) Nebraska, gave a short presentation on his operation - which produces quality seed for small grained crops, including millets, as well as grain proso for food. One of the varieties of proso that they produce is a waxy (or "sticky") grained type that has markets in Asia, but is also attracting attention for food applications in other regions.
"Waxy proso & other millets: Growing, processing & marketing" - NAMA Millets Webinar, 15 Jan. 2026 https://youtu.be/WrGEzzV3gcM (45:01)
Discussion, led by Gary Wietgrefe, touched on various aspects of Leon's operation, which includes processing of seed and grain that they grow. In addition to proso millet, they also produce seed for foxtail and pearl millets, as well as some other small grains.
This webinar is a shorter length than our previous ones, and it did not involve an audience. We are experimenting with our format. As it turned out in this case, however, we continued the discussion for an additional segment after the one linked above, and we'll share that soon.
All together, we covered a lot of interesting ground mainly about proso millet, and giving insights into an established farming and processing business that focuses on small grains.
Our video productions can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/@MilletsAlliance .
Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
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Message: 2 Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2026 22:41:58 -0500 From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> Subject: [Collab] Proso millet improved life in late Bronze Age Europe To: "NAMA's Collab list" <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Message-ID: < CA+RHibWt9bN3xSbAeFVaP5eMbmCmX0KLAOYMNBsGL60_PZokTg@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Interesting recent research using new archeological techniques found that introduction of proso millet (aka broomcorn millet) in Central Europe in the Late Bronze Age appeared to have led to more sedentary culture, improved diets, and reduced inequality.
An article about the research: "Millet farming marked a turning point in life during the Bronze Age," bySanjana Gajbhiye, Earth.com, 06-08-2025
https://www.earth.com/news/millet-farming-marked-a-turning-point-in-life-dur...
The research article & its abstract: Cavazzuti, C., Horváth, A., Gémes, A. et al. "Isotope and archaeobotanical analysis reveal radical changes in mobility, diet and inequalities around 1500 BCE at the core of Europe." Sci Rep 15, 17494 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01113-z
Abstract: "The transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age (around 1500 BCE) in the Carpathian Basin was parallel by drastic cultural changes in Central-Europe, which strongly influenced the dynamic of prehistoric Europe. The cultural fragmentation of the Middle Bronze Age (2000 − 1500 BCE) Carpathian Basin was followed by a more homogeneous development at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (1500 − 1300 BCE), with the appearance of the Tumulus culture. In the beginning of this period, the long-used tell-settlements were abandoned, furthermore new pottery styles and metal types appeared. Whether these changes were caused by immigration, or a local adaptation to external influxes, has long been a matter of debate. Our study investigates this transition from the point of view of diet and mobility from several key-sites of Hungary. Our results show (1) low migration rates and a shift of migration trajectories; that (2) the beginning of the systematic consumption of Panicum miliaceum was from 1540 − 1480 BCE; that (3) the decrease of average animal protein intake was parallel by an increase of cereal consumption and a tendency to less unequal diet. Overall, our results shed new light on the dynamics of complex change in Bronze Age Europe."
Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
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Message: 3 Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2026 22:51:57 -0500 From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> Subject: [Collab] "Water Shortage Cure--Millets," article by Gary Wietgrefe To: "NAMA's Collab list" <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Message-ID: <CA+RHibX75Dbpcn4Zsg8Gn+YAA=tWoHy=- aeehh2tLzx96naePw@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Agronomist and NAMA board member Gary Wietgrefe wrote an article spotlighting the roles that water-efficient hashtag#millets can play in agriculture in the wake of drier conditions and depleted aquifers. Millets are a group of small-grained "ancient" crops grown for food, forage, and other uses, which need less irrigation than that needed by major crops (or none at all). It was posted on LinkedIn at
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/water-shortage-cure-millets-gary-wietgrefe-y0...
Below is the text of the article for your reference:
*"Water Shortage Cure--Millets"* Gary Wietgrefe Author at GWW Books January 26, 2026
*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Editorial by Gary W. Wietgrefe January 26, 2026*
Never in human history have so many lived in water-limited environments. Never in human history has water waste been concentrated on such few crops.
Transition to drought tolerant millets is not only prudent—ancient people considered it necessary.
Why were drought tolerant millets developed on several continents over ten thousand years ago?
Food.
Tired of foraging daily, our ancestors selected and collected the best grassy seed heads of millets to store and eat when no other food was available.
Their results?
Based on necessity, extremely healthy grains which grew and matured in a narrow rain-fed season were easily stored for travel or winter. Millets produced seed even during droughts.
Anticipation of famine, drought hardy millets placed in pottery or grain storage remained viable for decades.
Millets are gaining attention in the U.S. food industry and health-conscious consumers. Farmers and ranchers are looking for grains and forages to produce on ever-shrinking water supplies[ii].
Changing cropping systems can save far more water than a toilet flushing every other use.
Two world studies found food production used 87.1 percent of global water use; industries used 9.6 percent and domestic use only 3.4 percent[iii].
Where do we need to conserve water? Agriculture.
Proso millet cooked, baked and processed, for example, can substitute for rice. Proso has a better dietary portfolio and twice the protein while using the same rice cooker. Plus, there are a million acres of various millets already produced annually in the U.S.—most used as wild bird food and forages. Birds and cattle know what’s good for them and humans.
Rice uses about three hundred gallons of water per pound of grain produced. Proso millet uses only about 127 gallons per pound of grain. Rice needs irrigation. Proso does not.
One hundred percent of U.S. rice production is irrigated but only 1.2% of U.S. proso millet grown for seed and grain is irrigated.
Slight crop rotation shifts can half water use, and possibly save humanity’s dietary foolishness.
About 400,000 acres of proso are grown annually for grain in three states, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota[iv]. Millions of wheat and corn acres can be rotated with proso millet in most states.
For 2026, the North American Millets Alliance announced two proso varieties specifically for the food industry. A University of Nebraska—Scottsbluff waxy (amylose-free starch) proso and a conventional variety, DLG317, has been food-tested and released by Dryland Genetics.
Shallow rooted proso only needs about four inches of precipitation to generate its first pound of grain. Wheat needs five inches whereas corn needs about nine inches[v].
The U.S. Department of Agriculture identified millets’ low water requirements in 1913 when the Bureau of Plant Industry published bulletin 284[vi]. “Of the crops which produce grain, millet and sorghum consume about one-half the amount of water required by oats, barley and wheat….”
America's drought-prone, water-short southwest irrigates about a million acres of alfalfa a year.
Can forage millets replace alfalfa forage? Absolutely.
When water is limited, is it ludicrous to irrigate alfalfa for forage?
Five U.S. southwest states’ (AZ, CA, NM, NV and UT) ground water, natural lakes, and dammed rivers are drying up. Some consider that area to be in a thousand-year drought. Yet, they irrigate about a million acres of alfalfa annually.
Alfalfa, a perennial, needs moisture year around to survive in the U.S. southwest. Whereas millets, like high protein, leafy pearl millet, can be planted each year and cut multiple times only when moisture or irrigation water is available with millet forage easily stored for later feed use.
The same 1913 USDA publication stated, “…Millet produces almost four times as much dry matter with the same amount of water as alfalfa….”
Can we afford to waste water on water-hungry forages, like alfalfa?
When can water-wasting rice and alfalfa be exchanged for consumer-healthy millets? In 2026.
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Gary W. Wietgrefe has been involved with millets, primarily proso, most of his life. For thirty years, he has been a certified (CCA) agronomist, researched proso millet in the U.S., Mongolia, and Turkey, and has written two books on millets. Previously Wietgrefe was a USDA certified grain grader and certified millet seed conditioner. He is a board member of the North American Millets Alliance. Wietgrefe has six patents, degrees in agricultural business and economics, and has authored eleven books.
[i] North American Millets Alliance: https://millets2023.space/.
[ii] Severe Water Deficiency during the Mid-Vegetative and Reproductive Phase has Little Effect on Proso Millet Performance: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/10/2155.
[iii] How much water does rice use:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bas-Bouman-2/publication/281474989_How_... .
[iv] U.S. Grain Production: https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/.
[v] EC08-137 Producing and Marketing Proso Millet in the Great Plains:
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5806&context=exte... .
[vi] Water requirements of plants:
https://books.google.com.mx/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rkIZAAAAYAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA5&dq... .
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End of Collab Digest, Vol 48, Issue 5 *************************************
-- Author, Gary W. Wietgrefe, https://www.RelatingtoAncients.com/ Enjoy Wietgrefe's (pronounced "wit' grif") dozen books, patents, and international research on millets, agronomy, cultural changes, travel adventure, poetry, and history.