Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is grown in various parts of North America, mainly for forage or cover crop (an estimated 1.5 million acres in the US/1). It can be grown throughout the US./2 In a previous message I briefly discussed the northern
limits of pearl millet cultivation (trials in Quebec & Michigan's Upper Peninsula)./3 Here I'd like to focus briefly on what may be a more promising North American regions for its cultivation for grain: beginning with the southeastern US
My impression is that pearl millet is already more commonly grown in the latter region than elsewhere. According to an article by Univ. of Georgia Extension, it "has a long history of use as a summer grazing and hay crop in the southeastern United States."/4
By contrast, main locations of proso millet, sorghum, and teff in the US are, respectively, Colorado, Nebraska, and Idaho,
About 20 years ago, a pearl millet hybrid suitable for grain production in the US was developed in Georgia./4 /5 A primary target for pearl millet grain was poultry diets, although the potential for use for human food was also mentioned.
Interestingly, proso is also discussed as an alternative poultry feed. And US grown proso is already established as a minor grain for human consumption.
Anyway, two decades after the pearl millet variety for grain was introduced, it is not clear how much of it is now grown for what. There was a brief discussion on LinkedIn recently with a grower in Kansas who had success with grain pearl millet in 2018,
which one hopes isn't an isolated case. In any event, it would be interesting to have some statistics as well as other stories.
Don Osborn, PhD
(East Lansing, MI, US)
North American Millets Alliance
don at
milletsalliance.org
Notes: