The oldest evidence of foxtail millet cultivation was found along the ancient course of the Yellow River in Cishan, China, carbon dated to be from around 8,000 years before present.

The small seeds, around 2 millimetres (3⁄32 in) in diameter, are encased in a thin, papery hull which is easily removed in threshing.

But farmers are now bringing the traditional crop back into their food system which needs little water, grows well on poor soil, is fast-growing and suffers from very few diseases.

[14] In Europe and North America it is planted at a moderate scale for hay and silage, and to a more limited extent for birdseed.

In the northern Philippines, foxtail millet was once an important staple crop, until its later replacement by wet-rice and sweet potato cultivation.

Zohary and Hopf note that the primary difference between the wild and cultivated forms is "their seed dispersal biology.

[21][3] The earliest evidence for foxtail millet cultivation outside of its native distribution is at Chengtoushan in the Middle Yangtze River region, dating to around 4000 BC.

[14][24] The earliest evidence for foxtail millet in East Siberia comes from the archaeological site at Krounovka 1 in Primorsky Krai, dating to around 3620–3370 BC.

[13][26] In Japan, the earliest evidence for foxtail millet comes from the Jōmon site at Usujiri in Hokkaido, dating to around 4,000 BP.

The earliest definite evidence for its cultivation in the Near East is at the Iron Age levels at Tille Hoyuk in Turkey, with an uncorrected radiocarbon date of about 600 BC.