'Tis the season...

…to celebrate with family and friends, to look forward to the year ahead, and to look back at the year that was.

For the oat community, of course, the 10th International Oat Conference last July was something to remember. A video from the banquet has now been added to the IOC page (under "Previous International Oat Conferences/Hosts"). The photos I’ve collected for the newsletter so far can be accessed through a link from the same location, or by going to the image gallery. Some of the photos are mine; thanks to Nick Tinker, Weikai Yan, Axel Diederichsen, and Vitaly Popov’s group for the rest!

Looking back a bit further, the “Collaborative Oat Research Enterprise”, or “CORE”, was a massive project for this community. Nick Tinker recently conducted a survey to assess the value of the resources produced through this enterprise, and has provided a detailed summary of what those resources are and how they are being used (and perceived) by the community. Nick was also interviewed recently about CORE, as well as about his most recent work. His summary, along with a research article by Weikai Yan, et al., can be found in the “Research Reports” section.

More research-related information can be found on YouTube, in the form of a video about the oat breeding group at IBERS in the UK. You can also find a bit of an explanation of how “pulled oats” came to be on YouTube.

Continuing with the theme of oat-based foods, Swedish company Oatly was recently named one of the country’s top three sustainable companies (text is in Swedish). Interest in oat drink products is increasing, and Belgian and Chinese companies have now invested quite heavily in this company.

As for the pure oats market for people with celiac disease, Tricia Thompson, aka the “Gluten Free Watchdog”, has put together a summary of work done by PepsiCo regarding the assessment of gluten contamination levels in oat products, with links to the original peer-reviewed papers. This remains a very important issue for the celiac community.

As for other communities, I leave you with an article in the “Community News” section regarding this year’s holiday door decorating contest at ORDC, AAFC!

Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! And here’s looking forward to a wonderful 2017!