Millet producers in Colorado are gauging farmer interest in creating a millet marketing order, which would support marketing and research through a checkoff for the crop. After a public hearing held in Akron, Colo., in June, Don Brown, Colorado commissioner of agriculture, announced there will be a referendum on the matter.

The vote — which starts when ballots arrive on farm Aug. 9 and ends Aug. 31 — will determine whether there will be a millet marketing order in the state. You can learn more about the referendum at the Colorado Department of Agriculture  millet referendum webpage.

A market order allows producers of a specific commodity to work together to solve marketing problems and conduct research. The idea of the order is to provide the structure and resources for programs that farmers could not do alone. Market orders are established under the authority of the Colorado Marketing Act of 1939.

Millet is widely grown in the state as a rotational crop. Earlier, in a press release, Brown noted that the crop is drought-tolerant and grows well in the state, “and brings in $23 million in economic impact.”

Millet is a small-seeded plant in the grass family that can be used for animal feed or for human consumption. It is high in protein and gluten-free. It grows in relatively hot and low-rainfall conditions, which is why it does well in Colorado.

The proposed market order would create a board of control including six producer-members and one handler-member. The proposed checkoff is 5 cents per hundredweight, which would be collected by first-handlers. The assessment would be fully refundable to producers who submit an application to the board of control within 30 days of sale to a handler.

Colorado currently has eight state marketing orders, including milk, wheat, corn, potatoes (there are two — one in the Greeley area, the other in the San Luis Valley), sweet corn, dry beans and sunflowers. The Colorado Department of Agriculture provides budgetary and operations oversight for those orders.

Millet producers who did not receive an earlier mailing notifying them of the hearing can reach out to Glenda Mostek at 303-869-9173, or by email at [email protected] to make sure your name is on the mailing list for a ballot.

Source: Colorado Department of Agriculture