by CLIFF EVANITSKI

While various speakers pointed out the merits of the two crops, in the background local birds swooped in and out of the test plots, already convinced of the crops' potential as birdseed. So was Goderich-area seed producer Fritz Beyerlein. He has planted a 10-acre test plot of sorghum and millet to examine its grain and silage potential.

"So far the silage part was very good," says Beyerlein, who plans to plant more for birdseed purposes. "We got about 13 square bales from an acre on one cut."

Millet and sorghum are typically used for forage and grain, as well as building up the organic content of soils susceptible to drought and suppressing root lesion nematode in high-end specialty crops such as tobacco, strawberries and ginseng. But now they are being examined for other purposes, including ethanol. Experts at the 10th Annual Field Day in Delhi noted that millet could produce from 40 to 60 tonnes of biomass per acre, which translates into roughly 2,000 litres of ethanol.

"On sandy soil, the yield of millet would be better than corn," says Mario Longtin, an agronomist with MILO PRO Inc."

The corn-like millet and the grass-like sorghum are widely grown in the United States, Africa and Asia. Currently, approximately 10,000 acres of the two crops are being grown in Ontario and Quebec. Aside from the uses mentioned, certain species of the crops are being used for malt in food and beer, as well as for ornamental flower arrangements. And, while the potential for these crops appears to good, the challenges are threefold: soil temperature, weed control and seed depth.

"You want to have good seed-to-soil placement and you want to put it into a clean field," says Peter White, an alternate crop technician with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. "Have the field worked and then if you have warm weather and good moisture to germinate the seed, that seed will jump up and out-compete weeds, especially if you are planting with a grain drill."

White says sorghum and millet are planted at a shallower depth than soybeans and should be planted 30 days later than corn. "We have been planting our millet and sorghum usually the last week of May, first week of June," says White, who has been with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for 23 years. "It has got to have warmer temperatures. The experience of the farmers is that if they put it in when the ground is too cold, it just won't come up."

White adds that those looking to test millet and/or sorghum should note that it is a long season crop and that Canada still does not have the chemicals to control the weeds for these crops.