Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)?
The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023. In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America? One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at [https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/](https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/) There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013) ** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/ ** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region. Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know. DO, EL, MI, US
It would be really great to discuss this with Dr Kevin Murphy and Sergio de Nunez who both helped to pioneer the 2013 movement. Kevin is a WSU breeder, I will see him on Tuesday. On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:06 AM Don Osborn via Collab < collab@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:
The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023.
In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America?
One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/ <https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/>
There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013) ** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/ ** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco
There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region.
Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know.
DO, EL, MI, US
-- Collab mailing list Collab@lists.millets2023.space https://lists.millets2023.space/mailman/listinfo/collab
I would love to put my hand up to join any group call on this topic! Thanks Joni and Don. Also, here is data I had collected in the past about IYQ: Journal article: Global expansion of quinoa and challenges for the Andean region https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912420300833?via%... https://agritrop.cirad.fr/596996/1/Alandia%20et%20al%20-%202020_GFS_Global%2... (pdf downloaded) negative impacts in Bolivia (including before the international year) https://web.colby.edu/st297-global18/2019/01/22/superfoods-dark-side-increas... Evaluation of the IYQ https://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library... ________________________________ From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 3:47 AM To: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)? It would be really great to discuss this with Dr Kevin Murphy and Sergio de Nunez who both helped to pioneer the 2013 movement. Kevin is a WSU breeder, I will see him on Tuesday. On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:06 AM Don Osborn via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space<mailto:collab@lists.millets2023.space>> wrote: The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023. In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America? One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/<https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/> There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013) ** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/ ** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region. Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know. DO, EL, MI, US -- Collab mailing list Collab@lists.millets2023.space<mailto:Collab@lists.millets2023.space> https://lists.millets2023.space/mailman/listinfo/collab
Thanks Joni and Joanna, Quick replies to each below... Joni, it's great you'll be able to talk with Kevin Murphy. I'm particularly interested in what he can tell us about organization of the 2013 research symposium on quinoa in Pullman. Including how the USDA-NIFA got involved. I'm thinking more about the idea of a North American millets conference, not being aware of any efforts in that direction yet. (I'm assuming at least one major event is being organized internationally by FAO and partners, so timing not to conflict would be among the considerations.) Will post more on this separately. Joanna, thank you for sharing this info on the effects of IYQ. I somehow had missed the Bioversity report, and am glad to see the other links. Some interesting and important issues to be considered. At the same time it seems to me that since IYM involves several grains - that in some cases are grown in multiple places, and have potential to be added to crop mixes in certain new regions - the picture is more complex (multidimensional?) than quinoa. You are certainly ahead of me on all that follows, but just to lay out the case on this list... Fonio, for example, might be more like quinoa, in that increased demand outside of West Africa might negatively affect smallholder farmers in that region. On the other hand, teff is already established in the US (apparently grown in 25/50 states as forage, and in a handful of those also for grain), so that any increased demand may not have so much impact on Ethiopian farmers (where there is a horrible drought, almost lost in the world news). The big 4 millets - pearl, foxtail, proso, and finger - would seem to be relatively well-placed to meet increased demand. (In the US there is significant work already being done on proso). That leaves the smaller millets of Asia (plus fonio, already mentioned) that might be more susceptible to the quinoa effect. Anyway you would be more than welcome to join us on a call, Joanna. Please let's communicate about that off-list. All the best, Don "Those little millets sure are a big deal!" ------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 6:04 PM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote:
I would love to put my hand up to join any group call on this topic! Thanks Joni and Don.
Also, here is data I had collected in the past about IYQ:
Journal article:Global expansion of quinoa and challenges for the Andean region
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912420300833?via%...
https://agritrop.cirad.fr/596996/1/Alandia%20et%20al%20-%202020_GFS_Global%2... downloaded)
negative impacts in Bolivia (including before the international year)https://web.colby.edu/st297-global18/2019/01/22/superfoods-dark-side-increas...
Evaluation of the IYQhttps://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library...
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 3:47 AM To: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)?
It would be really great to discuss this with Dr Kevin Murphy and Sergio de Nunez who both helped to pioneer the 2013 movement. Kevin is a WSU breeder, I will see him on Tuesday.
On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:06 AM Don Osborn via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:
The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023.
In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America?
One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at [https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/](https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/)
There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013)
** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/
** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco
There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region.
Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know.
DO, EL, MI, US
-- Collab mailing list Collab@lists.millets2023.space https://lists.millets2023.space/mailman/listinfo/collab
Interesting thoughts Don. I do wonder if Ethiopia has lost an opportunity to have more advantage and rights to teff. I think fonio, like teff, can grow so many places that West Africa might not be disadvantaged because they export. They are more likely to be disadvantaged because others leverage the opportunity faster and they are left out. I love your statement: "Those little millets sure are a big deal!" I have a group of US uni students come to India for the summer and work on millet marketing and they suggested something like (not sure of the exact wording): Quinoa is so last season. Eat millets. Joanna ________________________________ From: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 10:55 AM To: Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> Cc: D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com>; collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)? Thanks Joni and Joanna, Quick replies to each below... Joni, it's great you'll be able to talk with Kevin Murphy. I'm particularly interested in what he can tell us about organization of the 2013 research symposium on quinoa in Pullman. Including how the USDA-NIFA got involved. I'm thinking more about the idea of a North American millets conference, not being aware of any efforts in that direction yet. (I'm assuming at least one major event is being organized internationally by FAO and partners, so timing not to conflict would be among the considerations.) Will post more on this separately. Joanna, thank you for sharing this info on the effects of IYQ. I somehow had missed the Bioversity report, and am glad to see the other links. Some interesting and important issues to be considered. At the same time it seems to me that since IYM involves several grains - that in some cases are grown in multiple places, and have potential to be added to crop mixes in certain new regions - the picture is more complex (multidimensional?) than quinoa. You are certainly ahead of me on all that follows, but just to lay out the case on this list... Fonio, for example, might be more like quinoa, in that increased demand outside of West Africa might negatively affect smallholder farmers in that region. On the other hand, teff is already established in the US (apparently grown in 25/50 states as forage, and in a handful of those also for grain), so that any increased demand may not have so much impact on Ethiopian farmers (where there is a horrible drought, almost lost in the world news). The big 4 millets - pearl, foxtail, proso, and finger - would seem to be relatively well-placed to meet increased demand. (In the US there is significant work already being done on proso). That leaves the smaller millets of Asia (plus fonio, already mentioned) that might be more susceptible to the quinoa effect. Anyway you would be more than welcome to join us on a call, Joanna. Please let's communicate about that off-list. All the best, Don "Those little millets sure are a big deal!" ------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 6:04 PM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote: I would love to put my hand up to join any group call on this topic! Thanks Joni and Don. Also, here is data I had collected in the past about IYQ: Journal article: Global expansion of quinoa and challenges for the Andean region https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912420300833?via%... https://agritrop.cirad.fr/596996/1/Alandia%20et%20al%20-%202020_GFS_Global%2... (pdf downloaded) negative impacts in Bolivia (including before the international year) https://web.colby.edu/st297-global18/2019/01/22/superfoods-dark-side-increas... Evaluation of the IYQ https://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library... ________________________________ From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 3:47 AM To: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)? It would be really great to discuss this with Dr Kevin Murphy and Sergio de Nunez who both helped to pioneer the 2013 movement. Kevin is a WSU breeder, I will see him on Tuesday. On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:06 AM Don Osborn via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space<mailto:collab@lists.millets2023.space>> wrote: The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023. In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America? One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/<https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/> There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013) ** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/ ** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region. Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know. DO, EL, MI, US -- Collab mailing list Collab@lists.millets2023.space<mailto:Collab@lists.millets2023.space> https://lists.millets2023.space/mailman/listinfo/collab
Thanks Joanna, Good point re teff. I actually had wondered about how that came about. Ethipia had prohibited export of teff for some time, I think to assure sufficient quantities at home. The story of how it came to be grown in the US has several parts, but it may have been first grown commercially in Idaho in the 1970s, but even by 1992, there was apparently still only one commercial grower in the US. A lot has changed in 30 years, and that has been fueled in part by other people bringing teff to the US (including people from the Horn of Africa). It may not have been possible to keep that genie in the bottle. When I was in the Washington, DC area, I found an Ethiopian shop that sold lots of teff flour, of different types, and those were marked by where they came from (Ethiopia or US). So maybe among the diaspora Ethiopian community there is a premium cachet for teff from the old country? There's a book to be written about all of that. Fonio, yes, could be grown in many places - it's of course in the same genus as crabgrass. But how long might it take to get that crop in the US (or elsewhere) to the level of where teff is now? So maybe a generation of West African fonio farmers will retain that monopoly for a while before anyone else will grow it enough to compete with them? Another issue: Has anyone thought about the potential competition among various millets for consumer attention? They're not readily substitutable across foods, of course, but various factors might make one more popular and another not so much. Regarding slogans, just playing around with some ideas. (Entirely independently of the efforts for sorghum.) Nice idea from your students. I personally wouldn't want to put quinoa or an other crop in the slogan, however (not even "Anything X can do, millets can do better!") Their two-part approach, however, can work in various ways. I tried playing off of Steve Jobs' famous "Think different" with "Eat different. Think millets" & "Farm different. Think millets." But at this point it's just fun to spin out ideas. Sometimes oblique approaches hit the target. It would be great to link with your students at some point, to hear some of their ideas about marketing millets. Maybe some of them would be interested in IYM efforts when they complete their summer work? All the best, Don "Millets everywhere!" ------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 9:17 PM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote:
Interesting thoughts Don.
I do wonder if Ethiopia has lost an opportunity to have more advantage and rights to teff.
I think fonio, like teff, can grow so many places that West Africa might not be disadvantaged because they export. They are more likely to be disadvantaged because others leverage the opportunity faster and they are left out.
I love your statement: "Those little millets sure are a big deal!"
I have a group of US uni students come to India for the summer and work on millet marketing and they suggested something like (not sure of the exact wording): Quinoa is so last season. Eat millets.
Joanna
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 10:55 AM To: Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> Cc: D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com>; collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)?
Thanks Joni and Joanna, Quick replies to each below...
Joni, it's great you'll be able to talk with Kevin Murphy. I'm particularly interested in what he can tell us about organization of the 2013 research symposium on quinoa in Pullman. Including how the USDA-NIFA got involved. I'm thinking more about the idea of a North American millets conference, not being aware of any efforts in that direction yet. (I'm assuming at least one major event is being organized internationally by FAO and partners, so timing not to conflict would be among the considerations.) Will post more on this separately.
Joanna, thank you for sharing this info on the effects of IYQ. I somehow had missed the Bioversity report, and am glad to see the other links. Some interesting and important issues to be considered.
At the same time it seems to me that since IYM involves several grains - that in some cases are grown in multiple places, and have potential to be added to crop mixes in certain new regions - the picture is more complex (multidimensional?) than quinoa.
You are certainly ahead of me on all that follows, but just to lay out the case on this list... Fonio, for example, might be more like quinoa, in that increased demand outside of West Africa might negatively affect smallholder farmers in that region.
On the other hand, teff is already established in the US (apparently grown in 25/50 states as forage, and in a handful of those also for grain), so that any increased demand may not have so much impact on Ethiopian farmers (where there is a horrible drought, almost lost in the world news).
The big 4 millets - pearl, foxtail, proso, and finger - would seem to be relatively well-placed to meet increased demand. (In the US there is significant work already being done on proso). That leaves the smaller millets of Asia (plus fonio, already mentioned) that might be more susceptible to the quinoa effect.
Anyway you would be more than welcome to join us on a call, Joanna. Please let's communicate about that off-list.
All the best,
Don
"Those little millets sure are a big deal!"
------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 6:04 PM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote:
I would love to put my hand up to join any group call on this topic! Thanks Joni and Don.
Also, here is data I had collected in the past about IYQ:
Journal article:Global expansion of quinoa and challenges for the Andean region
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912420300833?via%...
https://agritrop.cirad.fr/596996/1/Alandia%20et%20al%20-%202020_GFS_Global%2... downloaded)
negative impacts in Bolivia (including before the international year)https://web.colby.edu/st297-global18/2019/01/22/superfoods-dark-side-increas...
Evaluation of the IYQhttps://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library...
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 3:47 AM To: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)?
It would be really great to discuss this with Dr Kevin Murphy and Sergio de Nunez who both helped to pioneer the 2013 movement. Kevin is a WSU breeder, I will see him on Tuesday.
On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:06 AM Don Osborn via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:
The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023.
In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America?
One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at [https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/](https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/)
There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013)
** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/
** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco
There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region.
Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know.
DO, EL, MI, US
-- Collab mailing list Collab@lists.millets2023.space https://lists.millets2023.space/mailman/listinfo/collab
Great slogan ideas! I hope you take that to the Sorghum United group. The students I had were a few years back, so not sure I could get the contacts. Joanna ________________________________ From: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 1:31 PM To: Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> Cc: D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com>; collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)? Thanks Joanna, Good point re teff. I actually had wondered about how that came about. Ethipia had prohibited export of teff for some time, I think to assure sufficient quantities at home. The story of how it came to be grown in the US has several parts, but it may have been first grown commercially in Idaho in the 1970s, but even by 1992, there was apparently still only one commercial grower in the US. A lot has changed in 30 years, and that has been fueled in part by other people bringing teff to the US (including people from the Horn of Africa). It may not have been possible to keep that genie in the bottle. When I was in the Washington, DC area, I found an Ethiopian shop that sold lots of teff flour, of different types, and those were marked by where they came from (Ethiopia or US). So maybe among the diaspora Ethiopian community there is a premium cachet for teff from the old country? There's a book to be written about all of that. Fonio, yes, could be grown in many places - it's of course in the same genus as crabgrass. But how long might it take to get that crop in the US (or elsewhere) to the level of where teff is now? So maybe a generation of West African fonio farmers will retain that monopoly for a while before anyone else will grow it enough to compete with them? Another issue: Has anyone thought about the potential competition among various millets for consumer attention? They're not readily substitutable across foods, of course, but various factors might make one more popular and another not so much. Regarding slogans, just playing around with some ideas. (Entirely independently of the efforts for sorghum.) Nice idea from your students. I personally wouldn't want to put quinoa or an other crop in the slogan, however (not even "Anything X can do, millets can do better!") Their two-part approach, however, can work in various ways. I tried playing off of Steve Jobs' famous "Think different" with "Eat different. Think millets" & "Farm different. Think millets." But at this point it's just fun to spin out ideas. Sometimes oblique approaches hit the target. It would be great to link with your students at some point, to hear some of their ideas about marketing millets. Maybe some of them would be interested in IYM efforts when they complete their summer work? All the best, Don "Millets everywhere!" ------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 9:17 PM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote: Interesting thoughts Don. I do wonder if Ethiopia has lost an opportunity to have more advantage and rights to teff. I think fonio, like teff, can grow so many places that West Africa might not be disadvantaged because they export. They are more likely to be disadvantaged because others leverage the opportunity faster and they are left out. I love your statement: "Those little millets sure are a big deal!" I have a group of US uni students come to India for the summer and work on millet marketing and they suggested something like (not sure of the exact wording): Quinoa is so last season. Eat millets. Joanna ________________________________ From: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 10:55 AM To: Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> Cc: D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com>; collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)? Thanks Joni and Joanna, Quick replies to each below... Joni, it's great you'll be able to talk with Kevin Murphy. I'm particularly interested in what he can tell us about organization of the 2013 research symposium on quinoa in Pullman. Including how the USDA-NIFA got involved. I'm thinking more about the idea of a North American millets conference, not being aware of any efforts in that direction yet. (I'm assuming at least one major event is being organized internationally by FAO and partners, so timing not to conflict would be among the considerations.) Will post more on this separately. Joanna, thank you for sharing this info on the effects of IYQ. I somehow had missed the Bioversity report, and am glad to see the other links. Some interesting and important issues to be considered. At the same time it seems to me that since IYM involves several grains - that in some cases are grown in multiple places, and have potential to be added to crop mixes in certain new regions - the picture is more complex (multidimensional?) than quinoa. You are certainly ahead of me on all that follows, but just to lay out the case on this list... Fonio, for example, might be more like quinoa, in that increased demand outside of West Africa might negatively affect smallholder farmers in that region. On the other hand, teff is already established in the US (apparently grown in 25/50 states as forage, and in a handful of those also for grain), so that any increased demand may not have so much impact on Ethiopian farmers (where there is a horrible drought, almost lost in the world news). The big 4 millets - pearl, foxtail, proso, and finger - would seem to be relatively well-placed to meet increased demand. (In the US there is significant work already being done on proso). That leaves the smaller millets of Asia (plus fonio, already mentioned) that might be more susceptible to the quinoa effect. Anyway you would be more than welcome to join us on a call, Joanna. Please let's communicate about that off-list. All the best, Don "Those little millets sure are a big deal!" ------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 6:04 PM, Joanna Kane-Potaka <joanna.kanepotaka@outlook.com> wrote: I would love to put my hand up to join any group call on this topic! Thanks Joni and Don. Also, here is data I had collected in the past about IYQ: Journal article: Global expansion of quinoa and challenges for the Andean region https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912420300833?via%... https://agritrop.cirad.fr/596996/1/Alandia%20et%20al%20-%202020_GFS_Global%2... (pdf downloaded) negative impacts in Bolivia (including before the international year) https://web.colby.edu/st297-global18/2019/01/22/superfoods-dark-side-increas... Evaluation of the IYQ https://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library... ________________________________ From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of D. Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 3:47 AM To: Don Osborn <donosborn@protonmail.com> Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space> Subject: Re: [Collab] Lessons from quinoa & the IYQ (2013)? It would be really great to discuss this with Dr Kevin Murphy and Sergio de Nunez who both helped to pioneer the 2013 movement. Kevin is a WSU breeder, I will see him on Tuesday. On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:06 AM Don Osborn via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space<mailto:collab@lists.millets2023.space>> wrote: The experience with the rise in popularity of quinoa in international markets, and the specific lessons from the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, may have important lessons for our efforts for millets and IYM in 2023. In an earlier post on this list, Joni mentioned potential synergisms with what has already happened with quinoa. What might these be? What should we know about IYQ as we plan for IYM in North America? One obvious place to look is the website of FAO, which coordinated IYQ just as it is coordinating IYM. Their main page for IYQ is at https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/<https://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/iyq/> There's quite a bit of material there, but of note is the short (4½ pp.) "Assessment of the International Year of Quinoa 2013" at https://www.fao.org/3/mk172E/mk172E.pdf . It noted * a traveling exhibition, "From the Andes to the World," which visited 7 countries, including the US * "tasting events" in a number of countries, including Canada and the US * several conference or symposium events, including the following in North America (I've added dates where I could find them, plus a URL about the Pullman event that has some info): ** Scientific technical meeting on food security and quinoa – New York (20 Feb 2013) ** International Quinoa Research Symposium – Pullman, Washington (12-14 Aug 2013; held by Washington State University & the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) https://na.eventscloud.com/ehome/quinoa/ ** III International Forum of Quinoa at La Mar – San Francisco There does not appear to have been any particular initiative for quinoa in the region comparable to NAMA during IYQ, and it's not clear that there was any IYQ steering committee for any of the countries of the region. Will follow with any additional info as appropriate, and of course, if anyone has more or different info, please let us know. DO, EL, MI, US -- Collab mailing list Collab@lists.millets2023.space<mailto:Collab@lists.millets2023.space> https://lists.millets2023.space/mailman/listinfo/collab
participants (3)
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D. Joni Kindwall-Moore -
Don Osborn -
Joanna Kane-Potaka