...is a question I've been asked many times at banquets and so on, and it seems appropriate now. There are two new reports in the “Research Reports” section, both translated from German. One presents data concerning the mixed-feed market, and the other discusses adding oats to chicken feed to prevent feather picking. Note that research reports will now be identified on the reports pages as being translations, summaries, or original work.

You’ll also see that I’ve added direct links to the AOWC 2018 presentations on the current “Research Reports” page. Please note that the list of posters available for viewing has grown!

Speaking of AOWC 2018, photos are now available on the “Image Gallery” page. Some of them are mine, and a number came from Catherine Howarth. Thank you, Catherine!

As mentioned in a previous article, the 50th anniversary of Pat Murphy’s untimely death by drowning was commemorated at AOWC 2018. He and a number of well-known oat researchers used to enjoy spending time fishing in Idaho, and two items from one of those trips were discovered recently at the USDA. They form the basis for a new story in the “Community News” section. The most recent “Web Harvest” is there, too, this time with a number of links to articles about using oats as feed, with one in Finnish about producing better chicken eggs!

As for other sources of news, new editions of POGA’s “Oat Scoop” and the ScanOats newsletter are now available. The ScanOats group has recently hired quite a few people, and their bios are listed in the newsletter.

GrainGenes is still looking to hire a Postdoctoral Research Associate in computational biology. This person will “perform genome analysis in small grains and apply machine learning methods for functional, interaction, and dynamics predictions”. Anne Osbourn’s group at the John Innes Centre is also looking for a postdoctoral researcher. This person “will be responsible for the extraction, analysis, purification and structural determination of medicinally important structurally complex plant triterpene glycosides (saponins)”.

Finally, if you enjoy wine with your chicken or fish, Georgie Troup is offering a bottle to whomever can provide the most useful information on seed quality (germination/vigour) of weather-damaged oats. You’ll have to go to the International Oat Conference in Perth in 2020 to pick it up, though! You can get in touch with Georgie at georgie.troup@agric.wa.gov.au. Thanks to those of you who can help!