Provincial Commissions

Members of the Canadian oat industry came together for an educational and engaging meeting in Saskatoon on Tuesday, January 14, during CropSphere.

The 2020 SaskOats AGM featured the organization’s Annual Business Meeting, as well as a talk on oat markets from Randy Strychar, President of Ag Commodity Research and Oatinformation.com.

The meeting also included a session on the oat varieties trial results with presentations from Mitchell Japp, Cereal Crops specialist at the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, and Sandeep Nain,General Manager, Gateway Research Organization. Click the links below to read the presentations.

• Oat Varieties: Selecting a Variety for Your Farm – Mitchell Japp
• Gateway Research Organization (GRO) – Sandeep Nain

The 2019 SaskOats AGM brought together members of the Canadian oat industry for an educational and engaging meeting in Saskatoon on Tuesday, January 15, during CropSphere.

The AGM featured the SaskOats Annual Business Meeting and Robynne Anderson made a presentation on “Diversifying Markets: Update on China Market Access and Mexico Campaign.”

• What Changes with the Implementation of Bill C-49 and How Might it Impact Producers – Quorum Corporation

The 2018 SaskOats AGM brought together members of the Canadian oat industry for an educational and engaging meeting in Saskatoon on Tuesday, January 9, during CropSphere.

The AGM featured the SaskOats Annual Business Meeting, along with a presentation from George Barreras, the owner of Oatdeal. George spoke to the group about “Processing Oat Drinks in Saskatchewan; How This Growing Market is Different from Other Beverages on the Market.”

• Oat Breeding and Research at the Crop Development Centre – A.D. Beattie University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

SaskOats, along with cohosts — canola, pulses, wheat, barley and flax commissions moved Cropsphere to Saskatoon Prairie Land Exhibition Grounds for their 2017 program. Annual general meetings, plus a host of agronomy, research, and market information was offered to Saskatchewan producers from January 9-11, 2017.

Seventy plus oat growers, industry stakeholders, researchers and academia convened at TCU place, for Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission’s annual general meeting. The meeting was in conjunction with CropSphere- a collaborative event of Saskatchewan’s oat, pulse, canola, flax, wheat and barley producer organizations.

Chair, William Zuchkan, brought the meeting to order and proceeded to report on Commission activities for the 2014-15 fiscal year. From an international market perspective, it was noted that the Mexican market for oats is making progress with the Mexican Diabetes Association recognizing that oats has an important role in the diabetic diets of Mexican people. Markets continue to grow as consumers understand oats’ contribution to healthy lifestyles.

The freight transportation portfolio was stable for this period with no major issues.

Research is a vital component of SaskOats’ annual program, and producers were kept apprised of research projects through the Oat Scoop newsletter and presentations at annual general meetings of the three prairie oat organizations and POGA. It was announced that Chris Willenborg, CDC continues to work on weed management and will be conducting some research specific to glyphosate use on oats for the Commission.

Regarding the Board, SaskOats said good byes and offered thanks for jobs well done to retiring directors, Willie Zuchkan and Dwayne Anderson. Elroy Trithardt, returning, and new directors Chris Rundel and Brad Goudy were acclaimed at this meeting.

The Commission’s financial statements were presented by Audit Chair, Elroy Trithardt, as well as being available in the annual report. He also presented to the registered producers the 2015/16 budget and it was accepted by the membership. A motion was also passed to retain the auditor utilized last year.

A Resolution regarding climate change and opportunity for grain and oilseed producers to work together to present a united voice to government was presented and passed.

After the formal business meeting concluded, Terry Tyson, Grain Procurement Manager, Grain Millers Canada, detailed their policy on pre-harvest Glyphosate application. In the spring of 2015, Grain Millers announced its pre-harvest glyphosate policy (which Tyson acknowledged, in hindsight, had some communication challenges and hence today’s conversation). The announcement came out shortly after the controversial release from WHO (much discredited) linking glyphosate to cancer, and thus became embroiled in that debate about food safety, residue levels, and the philosophical debate on farm chemical use in general, but Grain Millers reaffirmed this was not the basis for the decision.

Tyson stated “This policy is about functional performance” and went on to explain why they introduced the policy. An early glyphosate application does not allow the plant to mature; is virtually non-detectable by the human eye; contributes to fragile flakes (increased breakage) and lower quality oat flour.

As important, is the impact on the nutritional component Beta glucan. Beta glucan is one of the last nutritional components to form in the groat, and early glyphosate treated oats do not mature, potentially leaving levels too low for manufacturers to meet existing health claims, which have been integral to the growth of the market over the last decade.

In summary, Grain Millers strives to increase quality and maintain consistency of their oat products. There is no practical quick test for starch damage in the oat groat, nor any outwardly visible way to grade for glyphosate treatment. Grain Millers felt that these factors left little choice but to implement this policy and modify their buying habits.

The Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission held their Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, January 13th in conjunction with the CropSphere event in Saskatoon, SK. The meeting kicked off with greetings and an update on the organizations current and future activities from SaskOats president Willie Zuchkan. Following that was a financial update by SaskOats audit chair, Elroy Trithardt.

Chris Willenborg, Associate Professor with the Department of Plant Science then gave a presentation on improving weed management in oat production, a project funded by SaskOats and in its third year of production.

FOLLOWING ARE PRESENTATIONS MADE AT THE MEETING:

• A Multi-tactic Approach to Improved Weed Management in Oat Production (PDF, 1.1MB) Christian Willenborg, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
  Jessica Weber, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
  Eric Johnson, AAFC Scott, SK
  Bill May, AAFC Indian Head, SK
  Steve Shirtliffe, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission’s Annual Conference and AGM was held Tuesday, January 8, 2013 in Saskatoon.

FOLLOWING ARE PRESENTATIONS MADE AT THE MEETING:

• John Ippolito – Regional Variety Trials in Saskatchewan (PDF, 956KB)
• Randy Strychar – Equine Feed Oat Project (PDF, 2.5MB)
• Ag Commodity Research/Oatinsight.com – Oat Outlook (PDF, 377KB)