The Midwest is known for the rows and rows of corn and soybeans that evenly cover the landscape.
But in central Missouri, farmer Linus Rothermich is interrupting his usual rotation of corn and soybeans with Japanese millet. He has been cultivating it since 1993.
“Golly, I have to think how far back that is,” he said. “I was young and looking for alternative crops to make more money. We just weren't making a lot of money Agriculture afterward.”
Compared to corn and soybean crops, he spends much less on Japanese millet. Because its growing season is shorter, it fits perfectly into the rotation of the crops it already grows. It works so well for him that he wants to keep the wheat to himself.
“I've recommended it to other farmers, as long as it's not my Japanese millet,” he joked, noting that prices are likely to drop if more farmers start growing it.
But these humble grains may soon get more attention after the United Nations declared 2023 International Year of the Millet. It's part of an effort to encourage more awareness and a bigger market for millets, which the UN points out are highly sustainable, weather-resistant, nutritious and could help diversify the global food system.
However, grains have not received nearly the same level of policy and research attention compared to corn and soybeans in the United States, or even compared to other crops in the world market.
“Millet has been marginalized in its niche, and as such, has not received the same investment and research attention that maize, wheat and rice have received in recent decades,” said Makiko Taguchi, agricultural officer in UN food and Agriculture Organization, “so in this respect we consider millets as one of the neglected species.”
He said the millets have an opportunity to help with the United Nations.” Sustainable Development Goals and this will hopefully bring more attention to these climate-friendly grains – similar to his success 2013 UN International Year of Quinoa.
Climate friendly cultivation
There are many different types of millet. In addition to Rothermich's Japanese millet, there is pearl millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, and others. Sorghum can also be considered millet.
Millets tend to need less fertilizer and are more resistant to insects and disease (though birds sometimes like to eat them). Farmers can also use much of the same equipment for millets as they do for corn and soybeans. And while, so far, millets aren't producing the same yields as these staple crops, Rothermich says it's worth it.
“It's not as high-performing, but it also has lower inputs to it,” he said.
Linus Rothermich in the field where he plans to plant this year's crop of Japanese millet. It grows the crop for seed that is sold and planted elsewhere to support waterfowl populations. (Photo: Eva Tesfaye/Harvest Public Media)
Perhaps more important today in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains, many types of millet are known to be incredibly drought tolerant.
Matt Little, a farmer just outside of Arnett, Oklahoma, started growing millet last year. He expected the crop to burn alongside his wheat during the extreme heat and the droughtbut he managed to harvest and sell the crop.
“I'm really impressed with it. I have never seen a crop that could withstand heat and drought and still make me money,” he said.
Millets also draw attention to University of Missouri Renaissance Center Agriculturewhich is providing information to farmers in grain.
Center director Rob Myers said millets are versatile. Proso and pearl millet would do well in drier states like Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Japanese millet survives in hot humid conditions and is often used for planting in creek bottoms to support wildlife.
“We are seeing millets being used in some of these areas because of concerns about providing irrigation water,” he said.
Other millets would do better in places prone to flooding like Missouri and Mississippi Riverbeds. This includes Rothermich Japanese millet grown in Missouri.
The market for millet is not large in the United States, except for its use as songbird seed. However, millets could be used for animal feed, crops and even biofuels. Myers said they could even become a more popular food choice as people look for gluten-free alternatives.
“I expect the market opportunity will continue to expand, but it will be incremental,” Myers said.
Research and policy investments
Because the market is not as large, millets are not as well known as other crops in the United States.
Ram Perumal, head of Kansas State University millet breeding programsaid millets do not have the same level of federal protection as corn and soybeans.
“These are all cash crops: They have insurance. the prices; is the market there? there is support for a commodity subsidy,” he said.
While it exists insurance available for proso millet, is only available in certain areas of the country. Perumal said the lack of support and protection also makes it harder to get research grants. He hopes the UN Year of Millets will help highlight the importance of millet science.
More research is needed to really promote millets, said Myers of the University of Missouri.
“If you spend an extra $1 million on corn research, you don't necessarily advance the state of corn science very much,” he said, “but if you spend an extra million dollars on millet research, you might suddenly generate a lot of new information that wasn't we had before”.
For example, millet yields would be easier to improve than to take less corn water, according to James Schnable, a professor at the University of Nebraska. He and his father, Patrick Schnable, a professor at Iowa State University, co-founded the start-up, Dryland Genetics. The lack of funding for research is partly why they set up a company to research and breed millet.
“(Proso millet) is in this weird hole in the federal funding programs, and that's part of why we ended up using private money to start Dryland Genetics. Because it's wheat, it doesn't qualify for many of the specialty crop grants,” said James Schnable.
Farmer Jeff Taylor started growing proso millet on his farm outside of Ames, Iowa, about six years ago. He uses much of the same equipment he uses to grow his corn.
In Ames, Iowa, farmer Jeff Taylor said he started growing millet about six years ago, with help from Dryland Genetics. He believes more farmers would try new crops if federal programs shouldered some of the risk.
“It would be great if crops like proso millet were researched more and there was some incentive for farmers to consider planting alternative crops outside of corn and soybeans,” he said.
This story was created by Harvest Public Mediaa partnership of public media newsrooms in the Midwest, and the Mississippi River basin St & Water Officean editorially independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report For America.
