By Michael Boland, Kansas State University.

Reviewed March 2010.


Overview
Millet is a general term used to categorize a wide range of small-seeded cereals. Proso millet is a warm-season grass capable of producing seed usually anywhere from 60 to 100 days after planting. Because of its relatively short growing season, it has a low moisture requirement and is capable of producing food or feed where other grain crops would fail. Historically, prices have been higher than corn or sorghum, although prices can vary dramatically from season to season.

Value-added Products
Proso millet, which is also called millet, hog millet and yellow hog, can be used in several ways. Proso millet grain is used as bird and livestock feed in the United States and for livestock feed and human consumption in other countries. As human food, millet is used as a meal for making baked foods, as a paste from pounded wet seeds and as boiled gruel. The feed value of proso millet for cattle and swine is generally considered equal to grain sorghum or milo (and corn when less than 50 percent of the ration’s corn is replaced).

Processing
Proso grain should be processed to crack the hard seed coat, allowing for better livestock digestion. For swine and poultry, proso millet, like most other cereal grains, should be supplemented with lysine. The grain is cleaned and further processed and used for bird seed, and some proso undergoes a dehulling process to supply both human and animal needs.

Production
Most of the U.S. proso millet crop is produced in Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota, with Colorado typically producing over 50 percent of the crop. Total U.S. production in 2009 was 9.9 million bushels. In 2009, the harvested area was 293,000 acres, continuing the downward trend from previous years. The average yield in 2009 was 33.7 bushels per acres, up 1.4 bushels from 2008. The total value of proso millet production was $28.0 million. Athough yield remained high, fewer acres were harvested and the price was $2.48 per bushel, lower than in both 2008 ($3.23) and 2007 ($4.67).

According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the number of U.S. farms harvesting proso millet totaled 1,528 in 2007, an increase of 278 farms since 2002. Likewise, the number of acres planted to millet and the volume of proso millet produced have both grown in the last five years. 

Proso millet is often planted as an emergency catch crop for situations where other crops have failed, been hailed out or were never planted due to unfavorable conditions. Proso millet may also be beneficial in a crop rotation. In a rotation, it has the advantage of enhancing weed control, especially with winter annual grasses in winter wheat. Proso is versatile in that it can be successfully grown on many soil types and is probably better adapted than most crops to “poor” land, such as land with soils having low water holding capacity and low fertility.

The seeds do not mature uniformly and shattering of the seeds that are first ripe often occurs before others are mature. Because of this, proso millet is usually mowed (swathed) and cured in a windrow prior to combining.

Nearly all proso millet grown in major production areas is white seeded. Red-seeded proso has some demand but is best grown with a contract or specific market identified. Millet for birdseed purposes also is often grown under contract.


Links

• Foxtail and Proso Millet, Progress in New Crops, 1996.
• Crop Production, Summary,  National Ag Statistics Service (NASS), USDA, 2009.
• Proso Millet, Alberta Agriculture and Food, Canada, 2007.
• Proso Millet, Center for New Crops and Plants Products, Purdue University, 1996.
• Proso Millet, Field Crops: 2007 and 2002, 2007 Census of Agriculture - State Data, NASS, USDA, 2009.
• Millet (Proso), National Statistics, NASS, USDA.
• Proso Millet in North Dakota, North Dakota State University Extension Service, 2007.

Links checked February 2010.