OK, pay attention, please! The most difficult deadline to meet is likely this one: if you would like to send seed for the demo plots at the IOC 2020 conference in Perth, Australia, then please do it NOW. Yes, now, in 2018! Details are on the IOC page.

The next close deadline is for Early Bird registration for AOWC 2018, coming up in Seattle this June. The last day for that is February 28th (regular registration will continue until June 17th). Also, the deadline to receive abstracts has been extended until May1st, and there may be room left to sow more lines in the demo plots. More details are on the AOWC page, as well as on the conference website.

As always, please keep an eye on the calendar for more meetings (e.g., the NAMA spring conference is coming up in March).

Last November, a joint AAFC/USDA strategy meeting and the 2017/2018 Oat Rust Forum (ORF) were held at Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY. Links to many of the scientific presentations can be found on the “Other meetings” page. There is also an article concerning the meetings in the “Community news” section. A letter from Gabe Gusmini, Oat Global chair, updating the community on funding for the Oat Rust Initiative (ORI) can also be found there.

Looking back a ways further, the report from an “Oat Enhancement Work Session” held in Madison, WI, in 1987, has been added to the “Historical Documents” page. (Some of you will find it familiar....) It’s worth reviewing how things have improved (or not) in the last 30 years!

George Fedak, of the Ottawa Research and Development Centre, AAFC, has been involved in various oat research projects (and, yeah, a few involving some other small grains of little importance...(!)) for more than 30 years. This past December, he was honoured with a special award from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. A translation of the original article describing the award and George’s career can be found in the “Hall of Fame” section, or here. Congratulations, George!

Lastly, there are lots of other sources of oat information, and ScanOats has recently updated its newsletter. You can find it here.

Don’t forget the deadlines!