We have concrete word now that the new postdoc position in Melania Figueroa’s lab at CSIRO in Australia has been approved! The advertisement has been posted here. The successful applicant "will undertake research in preventing losses in oat production due to the impact of oat crown rust disease". The deadline for applications is June 13th.

The week before that, “Cereals: The Arable Event” will be held in the UK on June 8th and 9th. Tom Yewbrey, representing Senova, was interviewed about the event.

In Germany, the “DLG-Feldtage” (field day) will be held from the 14-16th of June, and many new oat varieties will be featured.

The next “Speaking of Oats…” webinar will also be held on June 14th. It will be held at 11 am EDT (5 pm in Germany) and will feature Ulla Holopainen-Mantila and Pekka Lehtinen from VTT, Finland. Registration is open!

Steffen Beuch provided the information regarding the German field day, and he has also submitted his translation of an article concerning using oat hulls to replace chocolate. Yes, you read that correctly. The article is in the “Community News” section.

People often consider oats to be a very boring food, and oatmeal can turn to concrete in your porridge pot if you don’t clean it straight away. For some more interesting recipes using oats, check out our "Recipes" section, which also includes links to recipe websites such as the one from the Prairie Oat Growers Association. If you want to mix oats and real chocolate, you could also try this cake.

On the oat ‘milk’ side, last year, Glebe Farm won the lawsuit brought against them by Oatly, who claimed brand and trademark infringements. Glebe Farm has now used that in their advertising, asking people to "Help us pay our lawyers!"

Thinking of oat milk in a different way, the Anson Mills company is creating a product from young oats, still at the milk stage of development. This is being branded as "Avena Verde" ("green oats").

Regarding the benefits of oats for heart health, Oxford University Press is making a selection of their articles on cardiology and nutrition, including one by Susan Tosh and Nicolas Bordenave, available for free for the month of May. Once the paywall is put back, you will, of course, still be able to read the abstracts, if you have no other access to the site.

Speaking of abstracts, please send yours in for the International Oat Conference as soon as possible! The deadline is being extended again, but not for long.

It sounds like the growing conditions in Western Australia have been quite good, so the demonstration plots should be in fine shape for the conference in October.

If you can’t make it to Australia for IOC, then perhaps a visit to the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship, being held in Scotland on October 8th, would be in order. This year, Australia will also be competing! Entries can be submitted until June 21st. Let’s see who’ll be bragging at the IOC!