Whole sorghum, the lesser known of the two grains, is an ancient African grain about the size of barley and farro. It takes at least one hour to cook (sorghum is also made into syrup and flour).

Growers in three states grow proso millet—led by Colorado with 420,000 acres, followed by Nebraska at 220,000 acres and South Dakota at 65,000 acres.

Sorghummillet has several shades, including white, yellow, and red, and they're usually about 4-6 millimeters. Finger (ragi) is almost always brown, and they're small, only 1-2 millimeters per grain.

In comparison, stacked on their veranda were many sacks of sorghum. They were able to get more than one tonne from five kilogrammes of seed and fertiliser. "We aren't planting maize again.