International Oat Conferences/Hosts

 
March, 2026

**The following statement has been issued by Claudia Acosta, on behalf of the local organizing committee in Chile**

"Thank you very much for your interest in the International Oat Conference 2026. We are pleased to see the strong engagement from the global oat community. The official website is being continuously updated and is the main source of information for the International Oat Conference 2026, to be held in Pucón, Chile. Due to the high number of emails and inquiries received, we have chosen to address the most frequently asked questions in one consolidated message, as many of these questions are shared by multiple participants and the answers may be useful to the wider oat community.

Dates & Program
Conference dates and general information are available on the website. A preliminary program will be published very soon. Please note that the Field Day with farming talks and agricultural experience is planned for November 17, followed by conference sessions on November 18, 19, and 20.

Scientific Program & Abstracts
The conference will feature oral and poster presentations. The call for abstracts is already open and available under the "Abstract" section on the website. Submissions are welcome from professionals, academic research, PhD projects, applied research, and industry studies.

Registration & Fees
Conference registration will open shortly. The early-bird registration fee is expected to be around USD 400. Unfortunately, at this stage, travel grants or scholarships are not available.

(Some additional information: Accompanying persons are included in the main social events of the conference, such as the welcome cocktail party, farewell dinner, and tourism day. In addition, we will offer special tourism rates during the conference week. These activities will need to be booked directly with the tourism agency located at the venue hotel. More detailed information will be available on the conference website at a later stage.)

Accommodation & Travel
Pucón offers a wide range of accommodation options close to the venue, from cabins to large hotels. The organization has secured special hotel rates, with prices ranging approximately from USD 90 to USD 160 per night. Detailed travel and logistics information will be available on the website in the coming days.

Field Day – Seed Demonstrations
Organizations interested in contributing oat varieties to the Field Day are asked to inform their intention as soon as possible. Seed material must be in Chile during April. More information is available under "Field Day" on the website.

(Some additional information: For those concerned about what will happen with the seed after the plots are harvested, there are a few possible scenarios:

  • If the breeder has a representative based in Chile, we can provide the harvest service and either deliver the seed directly to their local representative or arrange for re-export of the seed, if that is preferred.
  • If there is no local representative, we (as Agrotop) could have a discussion with the breeder, and, if it is agreed, keep the seed for further evaluation and potential commercial development.
  • If neither of these options is of interest to the breeder, the plants could be destroyed before harvest, with appropriate documentation provided as proof that the destruction was completed.)

Exhibition & Sponsorship
Exhibition booths and sponsorship opportunities are still available. For commercial packages or partnerships, please contact me at: info@internationaloat.com

Join Our Community
We invite you to follow the International Oat Conference on social media and share our content to help grow the global oat community, exchange knowledge, and stay connected with the latest news and updates about this major international event.

Please visit www.internationaloat.com regularly for official updates. We look forward to welcoming you to Chile in 2026."

January, 2026

An ad for the conference, which includes a link to the video, has been posted on LinkedIn (in Spanish).

December, 2025

The recording of the OAT2026 kick-off meeting is now available on YouTube. The conference website has also been updated with more detailed information concerning the five themes discussed in the webinar. You can preregister for the conference here. Abstracts are now being accepted. Please read the sections under the "Abstract" tab on the home page before making your submissions. The deadline for abstract submission is May 15th! If you wish to have any of your material included in the demo plots for the field day, you can find more information about phytosanitary requirements, etc., here.

November, 2025

There will be a webinar concerning OAT 2026 on Thursday, November 27th, at 11:00 Chilean time (GMT-3). The link to the webinar (being held on YouTube) is here. You can check the time offset for your location at World Time Buddy. Registration for the event is encouraged, but not essential. The webinar will be recorded, and you can find the IOC YouTube channel here.

September, 2025

The dates for the OAT2026 conference have now been announced: November 17-22, 2026. You can sign up to preregister and get more information as it becomes available here. The conference will have five main themes: genetics, farming, nutrition, milling, and markets. It is expected that the call for abstracts, request for seed, etc., will be posted on the website sometime in October.

January, 2025

A message from the conference organizers:
"We are excited to announce that the formation of our committees is well underway! Each committee already has 3-4 outstanding professionals on board, and we anticipate that the real work will kick off in March. The committees (Breeding, Farming, Nutrition, Milling, and Market) are actively seeking professionals from around the globe to join their teams. Each committee will need to identify the key challenges in its area of work and find the best global experts to address these topics at the conference. To achieve this, we plan to hold monthly one-hour meetings, ensuring that we have an exceptional lineup of speakers ready by the end of the year. If you’re interested in joining a committee or if you would like to let us know your ideas, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact Claudia Acosta at cacosta@empresasagrotop.cl. Thank you!"

May, 2024

The Chilean group is now using the internationaloat.com website for the 2026 conference. All of the materials related to the 2022 conference in Australia are still available on the site in the OAT2022 section.

September, 2023

Several new countries now have representatives on the IOC committee! Some countries have also designated backup representatives. The new list can be found here.

May, 2023

The IOC country representatives have voted, and Pucón, Chile, has been selected to host the 2026 International Oat Conference (12th IOC). Congratulations to the Chilean group, headed by Karina von Baer! You can find a message from Karina here.

Both the German and Chilean groups submitted excellent, high-quality bids, and the IOC committee would like to thank them for all of their time and effort. The vote was *very* close, so the German group is being encouraged to submit a bid to host the 13th IOC meeting in 2030!

A link to the website for the 2026 conference will be posted here once it has been set up.

 

IOC Committee structure

As of October 13th, 2022, the IOC chair is Steffen Beuch (NORDSAAT Saatzucht GmbH, Germany) and the secretary is Charlene Wight (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada). The list of country representatives is here.

 

Previous International Oat Conferences/Hosts:

 
 

Examples of IOC bids: