Outputs & Results
Here you can find outputs and results from OatFrontiers!
OatFrontiers outputs and results
OatFrontier's objective is to increase possibilities for oat cultivation in Northern Europe. In the field trials, we will identify the cultivars best adapted to the climatic conditions within the NPA territory. On this page you will find our newsletters, reports and other deliverables.
OatFrontiers newsletters
Read our newsletters for the whole OatFrontiers project in English from here!
Explore the second newsletter here!
Find our third newsletter here!
Read our fourth newsletter here!
Read our latest newsletter in English from here!
OatFrontiers newsletters for different countries
Here you can read more specifically news from your area with your own language.
Lue OatFrontiers-kaurahankkeesta suomeksi.
Lue ensimmäinen uutiskirjeemme!
Läs om OatFrontiers havreprojekt på svenska.
Les om OatFrontiers havreprosjekt på norsk.
Lesið um OatFontiers hafraverkefnið á íslensku.
Lesið fyrsta fréttabréfið okkar!
Lesið annað fréttabréfið okkar!
Lesið þriðja fréttabréfið okkar!
Read more about OatFrontiers project in Ireland.
For newsletter 3, please, read the project level newsletter.
Read the 4th newsletter from here!
OatFrontiers workshops
Read more about our workshops.
OatFrontiers Stakeholder Workshop was held 8th of October in Headquarters of the Land and Forest (L&F) institute in Gunnarsholt, Iceland. There were ~40 attendees in person and ~30 participants online.
As part of the activities in the Oat Frontiers project a workshop was held in 2024. The aim of the workshop was to bring together stakeholders and scientists in the field, to share experiences and knowledge and to engage in a discussion of opportunities and challenges in oat cultivation in the NPA. In the attendance were scientists, agricultural advisors, farmers and seed producers.
The program started with welcoming words from Gústav Ásbjörnsson on behalf of the L&F. Followed by Juho Hautsalo project leader who gave general introduction about Oat Frontiers (link to the presentation).
The next session on knowledge sharing, Fiona Doohan (UCD) gave insights into the Healthy Oats project reviewing the challenged of mycotoxins in oats for human consumption (link). Then, Hilde Halland and Sigríður Dalmannsdóttir (NIBIO) told participants about lessons from the Northern Cereals project (link), where barley was grown in the NPA region and products developed for human consumption. Örn Karlsson (ICE) an Icelandic oat farmer, told us the story of the only Icelandic oat product on the market. The session ended with Catherine Howarth (AU) who told us about Oats in Wales and the effect of climate on the phenology of oats (link).
The last session of the workshop was discussion led by Helgi Eyleifur Þorvaldsson (AUI) about increasing oat cultivation in Iceland and in the Northern periphery area. The lively discussion concluded that there are great possibilities for oat cultivation in the area but with hindrances, the first one being access to seed of oats adapted to the area. Scientists pointed out that the material exists and seed producers agreed. The workshop ended in the field day, whith a guided tour around the oat material in trials at Gunnarsholt.
The aim of this second workshop in the OatFrontiers project was to bring together stakeholders and scientists in the field, to share experiences and knowledge and to engage in a discussion of opportunities and challenges in oat cultivation in the NPA.
To engage stakeholders throughout the regions it was possible to participate both through physical attendance (in Steinkjer samfunnshus, Norway) as well as online. The workshop was held on 16th of October 2025. In total 65 persons participated from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Ireland, representing a variety of stakeholders. Approximately 26 of these were representing various research and educational institutions, 6 were from the three breeding companies in the region, 7 were agricultural extension workers, 5 were farmers, 14 represented various mills or other cereal value chain actors, in addition to 7 representing food safety authorities or other governmental institutions.
The program started with welcoming words from Wendy Waalen, Head of Department for Grain and Forage Seed Agronomy at NIBIO. The next two presentations concerned results from the OatFrontiers field testing of oat cultivars and varieties by Morten Lillemo, Professor at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (link to the presentation), and Espen Sørensen from the Norwegian seed company Graminor (link). After this we had two presentations from important actors in the value chain, first from Gullimunn (link), a smallscale mill in Steinkjer, and then through an online presentation we heard from 65Oats, a gluten-free oat mill from Finland.
After a break with oat-refreshments and mingling we started the second part of the workshop, where we focused on challenges and opportunities with oat production in the northern regions. First a presentation from the Trøndelag county by Truls Olve Terjesønn Hansen from the Norwegian extension service (link), followed by a presentation from Iceland by Hrannar Smári Hilmarsson from the Agricultural University of Iceland (link).
The last part of the workshop was dedicated to a panel debate concerning challenges for oat production in the NPA area, led by Wendy Waalen. The participants were Morten Lillemo, Espen Sørensen, Truls Olve Terjesønn Hansen and Eva Pauline Hedegart from Felleskjøpet Agri SA. Before ending the workshop, the OatFrontiers project leader Juho Hautsalo summarized the learnings from the workshop.
The workshop gave a broad insight, from various stakeholders, into the many challenges and opportunities for oat production and processing in the northern periphery area. Although the challenges can seem too large, it is good inspiration and lessons to be learned for example from the Icelandic oat-farmer who fortunately didn’t know that oat-farming was “impossible” in Iceland, and therefore, started farming and today is a large and successful producer. Or, from the small scale mill in Steinkjer who are making value from old varieties nearly lost in the large scale- and efficiency focused cereal business. Gullimunn is a good example from a case where the story behind the product can bring added value. The main message from the workshop is that there are opportunities, and that by combining forces between stakeholders, challenges can be overcome. In the next meeting in Ireland we could bring more insight to the different possibilities in oat use such as feed and food, since oat is much more than the ingredient of porridge. If we could put a price on clean air, locality, food security and develop a range of oat products locally we would be on track to increase oat production in different corners of NPA!
OatFrontiers field days
Read more about field days organized in different NPA countries.
Read more about field day in Loue, Finland in 2024.
And from here you can read about the field days in Loue and Ruukki in 2025.
Read more about the field day in Lännäs, Sweden 2024, and the field day in 2025.
OatFrontiers cultivar recommendations
Discover the recommended oat cultivars for different regions here.
Explore regional recommendations for Northern Finland, based on the experiments conducted in Loue 2024-25.
Find oat cultivar recommendations for Southern Iceland from here.
Here are the cultivation recommendations for Southern Ireland and Northwestern Ireland.
For Norway you can find the cultivar recommendations based on experiments in Northern Norway and mid-Norway.
Find oat cultivar recommendations for Northern Sweden here.