In November 2024, North American Millets Alliance (NAMA) board member Gary Wietgrefe began developing proposed Proso Millet Grain Standards. They were finalized and adopted by by NAMA in early 2025.
The current proposed standards document can be viewed and downloaded in these formats:
For a video explainer, see "Grading Proso Millet for All Markets," by Gary Wietgrefe, NAMA, 30 Nov. 2024 (YouTube; 4:19)
See also the NAMA Press Release on the proso standards, dated 13 Nov. 2025.
Background and description follow, below.
Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) is the only one of the crops named “millet” that is currently grown on a commercial scale for grain in North America.
For the last twenty-five years, there has been an average of 460,500 acres of proso millet grain annually produced in North America, mostly in the U.S. Plains. However, there are no uniform grain standards for buying or selling proso millet grain in North America.
NAMA has adopted Proso Millet Grain Standards and proposes adoption by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The United States has standards for twelve grains established by USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service, https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/grain-standards and Federal Grain Inspection Service https://ams.stg.platform.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Book2.pdf. However, it has no standards for marketing proso millet grain.
Two US states did have proso millet grain standards in the mid-20th century – Minnesota (1950s) and Colorado (1960s) – but these mainly served the bird seed industry and are not currently in effect.
Canada has standards for twenty-one grain categories, but none for proso millet https://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/en/grain-quality/official-grain-grading-guide/.
Significant quantities of North American proso millet grain is exported annually, but there are also no uniform export marketing standards.
Since proso millet is a food, feed, and fuel grain, NAMA has established four uniform marketing Grades (#1,#2, #3, Sample), four proso millet Classes (White, Red, Mixed, and Other) and two subclasses (Regular, and Glutinous).
NAMA proso millet grain standards allow for unlimited price variations while all sellers and buyers have fungible Grades and Standards for all uses and trading.
Annually there are significant quality variations of proso millet grain going through U.S. commercial businesses and exporters. High quality (Grade #1) proso is mainly used by food processors and seed companies. Bird food is generally Grade #2, and low quality proso grain (Grade #3 or Sample) is used for livestock feed.
In recent years, most proso millet grain produced and marketed in the United States is graded as Number 2 White Proso having minimum test weight of 53 lbs./bushel and not more than seven percent dockage.
Establishing industry standards for proso millet quality is imperative and these standards are a critical step toward developing market adoption for diverse, climate-smart crops like millets.
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