We begin with the sad news: Charlie Brown, former oat breeder at the University of Illinois, passed away last Friday, June 1st. His funeral will be held this Friday, June 8th. More information about that and about Charlie can be found here. Charlie was also honoured with the Distinguished Service to Oat Improvement Award. It was Charlie who bred cv. ‘Ogle’ – one of the most famous and well-used oat varieties!
This update brings you lots of bits of news gleaned from the web. Firstly, my latest “Harvested from the Web” compilation (covering Jan. – Mar. 2018) is in the “Community news” section.
Melania Figueroa's lab at the University of Minnesota is advertising for a new postdoc:
"The appointee will join an international project investigating the biology of the pathogenic rust fungus Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae, which inflicts significant yield losses in oats."
The link to the job posting is in the “Community news” section, as well as here.
These folks are so practical, it’s in their name – the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI)! As described on their website, “Practical Farmers of Iowa's mission is to strengthen farms and communities through farmer-led investigation and information sharing”. There is a renewed interest in growing oats in Iowa, and you may remember seeing the list of PFI videos published in the newsletter last year.
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.
Dear Colleagues, Oat Global is hiring!
We are excited to share that our growth in 2017 has opened the door for us to add a full-time leadership position! The Oat Global Associate Director will help expand Oat Global into a broader oat research and extension innovation platform with global reach and impact. We are relying on you- our colleagues and supporters- to help us identify the right candidate for this job. Please share widely, and think creatively about who would be a good fit.
Who are we?
Happy 2018, everybody!
Season’s Greetings, one and all! This newsletter update is all about wants and wishes. For example, the folks at Oatly AB were complaining that there were no holiday songs about beta-glucans, so I fulfilled that wish and wrote one….
Here, now, is your chance to fulfill someone else’s wishes:
This newsletter update focuses on stories from the community, and, yes, community matters! There are always good news stories and bad news stories, and, unfortunately, this update brings some bad news: Lon Hall, long-time oat breeder at South Dakota State University, passed away in August. His obituary can be found here, and a more detailed description of his work with oats will be added to the "Hall of Fame" later on.
