Grain millets only deserve half their reputation as "a quick cash crop", according to Mike Lucy, an extension agronomist with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries at Pittsworth,

Mr Lucy told a Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) Update for Advisers in Goondiwindi there was no doubt millets were a quick crop ­ maturing in as little as 75 to 80 days ­ but turning the grain into cash could take considerably longer ­ two and even three years if there was a downturn in commodity prices.

That made good on-farm storage essential for any grower looking to include millet in crop rotations.

"There¹s no doubt millets are an attractive opportunity crop. They¹re very quick maturing, have low input costs and can have a valuable role in maintaining stubble levels in fallows," Mr Lucy told the Goondiwindi Research Update.

"But Australian production is very volatile. Our average crop is about 25,000 tonnes, but that has varied from as little as 5000 tonnes to approaching 50,000 tonnes.

"The domestic demand is more than 20,000 tonnes and, because of that volatile production, Australia is seen as an unreliable millet supplier on world markets.

"Marketing the crop can be a long drawn out process and regular millet growers expect they are likely to have to store the grain to maximise their returns."

Mr Lucy said the five types of millet ­ Japanese, French, Foxtail, Siberial and Pearl ­ all had very different soil, agronomy and management requirements.

This could be quite confusing to first time growers trying to decide which particular species best suited their particular farming operations.

The use of a broad range of varietal names and "bastardised" common names also added to the confusion as to which particular millet type was being referred to.

French millet was very deep rooted, reaching down to 1.8 metres, and monitoring had shown it was just as effective as dryland lucerne in extracting deep soil water.

It was tolerant of salinity, sodicity, drought and high atrazine rates, the last attribute being "handy" in control of problem weeds.

On the negative side, French millet ripened unevenly and could be prone to shattering at harvest.

Japanese millets were more suited to heavy soils, were tolerant of waterlogging and salinity and were valuable for grain or grazing. Their main negative feature was extreme susceptibility to shoo fly ­ stem borer ­ in late plant situations.

Foxtail millets, also known generally as panicums and commercially available as Panorama and Red Panorama, were very quick ­ 75 to 85 days to maturity ­ and had high yield potential.

They would not tolerate salinity or sodicity and seed set could be affected by very high temperatures.

"The general limitations of all millets are that they are small seeded and can be difficult to establish. Uneven stands subsequently can lead to uneven maturity, lodging and shattering, so ideal sowing depth is about three centimetres," Mr Lucy said.

"Another limitation is the lack of registered, cost-effective options for the control of broadleaf weeds. 24-D is registered but can be very damaging on some millet species.

"The issue of registrations in millet is currently being addressed through the GRDC`s funding of the JAY4 project."
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