Quick follow-up on this millet. First, I was curious about the name "chiwapa." It's a toponym, apparently of Choctaw or Chickasaw origin, that is given to a creek in northern Mississippi, and also to an unincorporated community on that creek. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiwapa_Creek
Not clear how it was chosen for E. frumentacea, but one USDA bulletin - "'CHIWAPA' billion-dollar grass" https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/mspmcrb13988.pdf - indicates it is a variety "released in 1965 by the USDA-NRCS Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials Center (PMC), Coffeeville, MS in cooperation with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station." The same bulletin calls it "an exceptional forage and wildlife plant." I wonder if anyone has tried harvesting and processing it for human consumption, and what the results may have been. I suppose that the name might find wider use, but if it is connected with this variety (apparently popular for it listed uses), it might get complicated if other differently-named varieties bred for food use are developed. I'd fully agree that "Japanese millet," already used for E. esculenta, should not be accepted for this species, E. frumenatacea. Also worth noting that "barnyard millet" (without any prefix) as exported from India, labeled as such, and available in specialty markets and online in our part of the world, is most likely E. frumentacea. See examples of this packaging at https://www.pinterest.com/drdonosborn/millets-plural/barnyard-millet/ . However I've read that E. esculenta is also cultivated in parts of that country. More clarity is needed on that. The two long names - Indian barnyard millet (E. frumentacea) and Japanese barnyard millet (E. esculenta) - remind us of the different regional domestications of these closely related and sometimes confused crops/grains, and they are used in research literature. However I'd agree that those names don't seem to have a great future for marketing on any level. Don DO, EL, MI, US NAMA On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 2:54 PM Don Osborn <[email protected]> wrote: > Forwarding this item by our NAMA colleague and agronomist, Gary Wietgrefe. > One quick note - this millet is also known as Indian barnyard millet. > Together with Japanese, or Japanese barnyard, millet and their respective > precursor wild relatives (that I understand are sometimes also cultivated), > this “barnyard” group is a complex and closely related set of species. > > DO, EL, MI, US > NAMA > > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: Gary Wietgrefe <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 4:25 PM > Subject: Chiwapa Millet > To: Don Osborn <[email protected]>, Joni Kindwall-Moore < > [email protected]> > > > For agronomic purposes, I did a bit of searching for millets best for wet > soils. I have not worked with Chiwapa millet but it is *Echinochloa > frumentacea *(better known as billion dollar grass). I have no experience > with it. Apparently, it is a long season (120 day) millet used across the > South in wet ground to attract gamebirds--primarily ducks. > > It appears Chiwapa millet (*Echinochloa frumentacea*) does better > (standability and sustainability) in wet and saturated soils than Japanese > millet (*Echinochloa esculenta*). > > *Seed is available* across the South. So if some culinary users want to > try it, they should order seed before it is treated for planting. Likely, > it would need to be conditioned, probably removing the seed coat, before > turning it into flour. > > Here are a few links including suppliers and research: > *Chiwapa*: http://www.chiwapa.com/aac_planting.php > > *Handcock Seed*: > https://hancockseed.com/products/chiwapa-millet-seed?_pos=1&_psq=chiwapa&_ss=e&_v=1.0 > > *Specialty Seed*: https://specialtyseed.com/about-chiwapa-millet/ > > *Research*: > *No-Till Farmer*: ttps:// > www.no-tillfarmer.com/ext/resources/files/2021/NRCS%20Trials/flpmcsr13551.pdf > > *USDA-NRCS*: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/gapmcsr13555.pdf > > We should probably use Chiwapa millet as a reference name for *Echinochloa > frumentacea* and keep it separate from Japanese millet *Echinochloa > esculenta*. In India Chiwapa millet is apparently called Indian Barnyard > millet or Sama Rice, but I don't think we should use either of those names > in North America. > > On our farm (northcentral South Dakota) we used foxtail millets because > our wheat, oats and barley fields were planted in April and many sloughs > would not dry out until June. When they did, a thin crust would form and > the bare-ground sloughs which allowed us to run a tractor and grain drill > across and shallow (<1 in.) plant foxtail millet in sloughs mostly an acre > or less. Our intent was only to harvest forage-not seed. In the fall > (September) we would cut it for hay. However, I would only recommend > foxtail in Michigan for forage on dry soils only when saturated soils dry > out and likely would not flood again. Followup flooding will kill the > foxtail millet. Saturated or flooded soils may be best to plant Chiwapa > millet for forage and wildlife.....Gary Wietgrefe > -- > Author, Gary W. Wietgrefe, > https://www.RelatingtoAncients.com/ > Enjoy Wietgrefe's (pronounced "wit' grif") dozen books, patents, and > international research on millets, agronomy, cultural changes, travel > adventure, poetry, and history. > -- Collab mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
