The results are in, and the 11th International Oat Conference will be held in Perth, Australia, in 2020. Please go to the IOC page under the “Meetings” section for more details, as well as some important information concerning the choice of dates.

There is also more information from the 10th IOC meeting in St. Petersburg on the same page. A link to the abstracts book is now included, as is a link to the photo gallery. These can also be accessed directly from the 10th IOC website.

In the “Research Reports” section of the newsletter this month, there are new articles from Clare Saied, as well as Belayneh Yimer and Kathy Esvelt Klos.

Following up on the last Newsletter update, it was mentioned that a new, state-of-the-art oat variety development lab has been opened at South Dakota State University. A new interview with Melanie Caffé-Treml can be found here.

Another new oat variety, suitable for milling or as hay, has also been released in Australia, this time by Pamela Zwer, et al., of the National Oat Breeding Program. ‘Durack’ is a short season oat variety which “has the potential to open up areas of oat grain production in the medium to low rainfall regions of the State.”

Thinking of grain quality now, Bruce Roskens (Grain Millers, Inc.) was recently interviewed about organic grain production, with a focus on proper management and storage practices.

We can all appreciate good quality milling oats. Their main use has always been to make porridge, and the 23rd Annual Golden Spurtle™ World Porridge Making Championship is being held in Carrbridge, Scotland, this Saturday, October 8th! World Porridge Day is Monday, October 10th, and the village of Carrbridge has teamed up with the Scottish-based charity Mary’s Meals to use the occasion to help raise funds to feed hungry children around the world. Please help them out if you can!

As we all know, though, oats are used for more than just porridge, and I recently came across a short history of Staffordshire oatcakes. A brand-new oat product was mentioned at the 10th IOC meeting by Outi Mäkinen - pulled oats, by Gold & Green Foods. The product contains peas and beans as well as oats, and has been much in the news (see here and here, for example). It also just won an award as the ‘Best New Protein Food’ during the Bridge2Food Protein Summit in France!

Perhaps I am thinking so much about food because Monday, October 10th, is not just World Porridge Day, but also Canadian Thanksgiving, and I am thankful to have an abundance of food available to me. I shall be using some of the recipes found in the “Recipes” section this weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians, and a Happy World Porridge Day to all!