Don:
Commercially production of rainfed proso millet is common in western Nebraska, easter CO and southwestern SD.
I will see what specific data I can share with the group. However, I need the specific details
Regarding Teff:
I have tested in one year at Scottsbluff ~10 years ago under irrigation and I had some success. I never tested under dryland condition.
I know that Stockton, KS had a USDA teff project several years ago. The person to contact is Edgar Hicks
ehicks@cfosystemsllc.com. You may also contact
Teresa Webb, Solomon Valley RC&D, program assistant, 320 South Sixth St., Stockton, KS 67669, 785-425-6647. I attached their project report.
Please, let me know if any questions.
Thanks
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) 632-1244 (work)
/ (308) 765-2324 (cell) |
From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space>
On Behalf Of Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS via Collab
Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 12:22 PM
To: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>; collab@lists.millets2023.space
Subject: Re: [Collab] [External Email] Grain teff and proso millet in the US: Rainfed or irrigated?
Non-NU Email
Don,
I am told that grain-teff performs well in the Nebraska high plains. Many of the millets could be grown across large areas where they
are not grown now.
It is possible to have widely adapted crops but only local marketing infrastructure, proportional to small markets. By infrastructure I include personalities that find ways to market novel crops.
David Brenner
From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>
Sent: Monday, September 4, 2023 8:02 PM
To: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space>
Subject: [External Email][Collab] Grain teff and proso millet in the US: Rainfed or irrigated?
[External Email]
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As discussed briefly on this list this past June,/1 SBSF's Crop Locator project is developing a tool to map out ideal locations for growing the various millets for grain. It works from data on where a given crop is successfully grown (e.g.,
agroclimatic, soils, altitude), and then finds locations elsewhere in the world with closely matching characteristics,
The project included a map for proso millet but not yet for teff. For proso millet (slide 15 via the link), it's not clear whether US data was incorporated. However I understand they would be seeking data on locations only where irrigation is
not normally necessary to get a grain harvest.
It would be helpful to be able to supply information to the Crop Locator project about where grain proso is grown, along with data on those locations.
Since I understand mapping teff is also foreseen, it would be helpful to know about whether the teff grown in say Idaho or Nevada is purely rainfed or relies to one or another extent on irrigation to produce grain.
I recall on this list in March 2022, Steve DeWitt mentioned his experiment with rainfed teff for grain in Oklahoma was not successful, but that another farmer there was successfully growing grain teff with irrigation./2 Irrigation, as long
as there is water available, makes a lot of things possible, but it would not seem that Oklahoma would be a positive data point for this grain for the Crop Locator project.
On the other hand, part of the story of the introduction of teff culture in the NW US in the early 1980s was that Wayne Carlson saw similarities between the areas of Ethiopia where he had seen teff grown, and the Snake River valley./3 So,
the question is, over the ensuing years, whether teff is typically grown there without need for irrigation. If so, this information might help refine SBSF's data on locations best suited for grain teff.
Grain teff is also grown in Minnesota (introduced by Tesfa Drar, also in the early 1980s),/4 as well as in one operation we know about in Michigan (Claire Smith, a subscriber to this list, is part of that)./5 So, the question may end up
being, where *can't* grain teff be grown? That kind of question, in turn, might affect the model used by the mapping project.
A side note on teff. I've probably mentioned this before, but teff is also fairly widely grown in the US for animal forage and hay - one source I don't have at hand suggested it's in half of the US states already. However, this use is not
a focus of the mapping project.
Thanks in advance for any information,
Don
Don Osborn, PhD
(East Lansing, MI, US)
North American Millets Alliance
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