Which state grows the most millet?
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Answer
Biscuit's fun facts
Eastern Colorado belongs to the Central Great Plains, a region that also takes in parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Wyoming. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's research service says the first settlers there were ill-prepared for the dry and windy climate, and the crops and farming methods that worked farther east did not suit the land, so early farming went poorly. In 1907 the USDA, working with Colorado State University, set up a field station at Akron, Colorado; the town donated land for it. Over the next century the station's experiments identified the crops best suited to the region, such as winter wheat, sorghum, millet, corn and sunflower.
Who says so: USDA Agricultural Research Service (opens in a new tab)
What makes proso millet fit? A USDA-supported crop profile for Colorado says it is a short-season grass that goes from planting to harvest in one short season, and in Colorado it is usually harvested in September. Among grain crops, it needs the least water. Farmers can grow it with the same machines they already use for dryland (unwatered) winter wheat. Historically it was a replacement crop, planted when the winter wheat failed, but it later became an important part of crop rotations (the order of crops a field grows, year after year) in eastern Colorado. A bonus: growing it cuts down on dust blowing off farmland that might otherwise be left fallow (without a crop for a season).
Who says so: Crop Profile for Proso Millet in Colorado (Crop Profiles database, supported by USDA NIFA) (opens in a new tab)
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Proso millet grown (bushels, 2024)
Note: measured in bushels of proso millet. Only states that publish a value are shown. Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
Recap
📋 See the ranking table (top 3)
| Rank | State | Value | Share of U.S. total |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Colorado | 9,913,000 bu | 70.5% |
| #2 | Nebraska | 3,182,000 bu | 22.6% |
| #3 | South Dakota | 966,000 bu | 6.9% |
| 🇺🇸 USA (total) | 14,061,000 bu | 100% |
Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2024)