Developing technologies ready to scale.

Frequently Asked Questions

With the introduction of the Global Collaboration on Sorghum and Millet, we wanted to share answers to some frequently asked questions we’ve received.

Table of contents

  1. What is the mission?
  2. What happened to SMIL?
  3. What is happening to the work in Africa and other countries? Who are they liaising with at this time? In the short term? In the longer term?
  4. Why does K-State feel like it is the ideal university to be the host for the Global Collaboration on Sorghum & Millet?

What is the mission?

GCSM focuses on value-chain growth and stability for two climate-smart crops critical to underserved communities around the globe. This collaboration is building these crops of the future through active knowledge transfer and the global exchange of resources that reduce redundancy and increase productivity.

What happened to SMIL?

USAID has focused its funding toward a very specific gene discovery effort under a combined upstream initiative for wheat, rice, sorghum and pearl millet under the announced call for a Climate-Resilient Cereals Innovation Lab.

Our focus remains on the growth and stability of two climate-smart crops critical to underserved communities across the globe and the rapid transfer of existing technologies across the entire value chain in an integrated manner with a host of public and private partners.

The global exchange of resources and knowledge transfer is still the key to success to reduce redundancy and increase productivity, and this won’t change in the transition from SMIL to GCSM.

What is happening to the work in Africa and other countries? Who are they liaising with at this time? In the short term? In the longer term?

Many of the high-profile projects will continue to be GCSM/field work, as they were before. This includes work in the areas of seed systems, farmer-driven innovations like seed balls, and innovations in the digestibility of sorghum for both human and animal consumption.

Why does K-State feel like it is the ideal university to be the host for the Global Collaboration on Sorghum & Millet?

Sponsoring the GCSM makes sense as the College of Agriculture is known for global leadership in this space.

We understand the importance of sorghum, millet and dryland cereals and their vital role in the unprecedented challenges in today’s global food system.

The College of Agriculture understands the importance of sustainability in sorghum production, and we will continue leading the development of new varieties and approaches to ensure that our research is applicable to producers globally.

K-State’s College of Agriculture has deep expertise in research and applied science to test climate-smart agriculture practices that can help farmers globally.

This all makes sense for K-State’s College of Agriculture – bringing together a global network to interact and learn from one another and build on the tradition of excellence in sorghum research at Kansas State University.