Millet is a Spring Sown, Annual, Combinable Crop
Many farmers will be familiar with Millet through its use in game strips and cover crop mixtures.
Millet seed is about the same size as Rape, but with a creamy beige colour.
The majority of Millet is used in wild birdseed mixtures and tens of thousands of tonnes are imported to supply this expanding market.
Things have changed a bit since childhood, when feeding the birds meant cutting up stale bread and scraps and putting them onto the bird table.
In 2009 the wild bird food industry in the UK was worth £365 m of which £130 m is thought to be in "seeds", many of which are or could be UK sourced. There is increasing demand from UK birdseed packers for products to be sourced from the UK - hence there is an opportunity for UK growers to benefit from this shift.
The crop is straightforward to grow and harvest and has proved to be very profitable particularly as a late Spring sown option.
Millet is a break crop for following Wheats - similar to Maize.
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What is Millet?
Millet is a drought tolerant, C4 grass species. It hence loves hot and sunny weather and tolerates drought better than other crops.
Millet is almost a catch crop, not being planted before mid May and being desiccated at the end of August. Nearly all the growth hence takes place in June, July and August.
