OAT2022 Field Day

It’s Spring-time in Perth! Come and experience the great outdoors for the Oat Field Day. Taking place on Monday, 10 October 2022 in York, Western Australia, we hope the sun shines and the oats dance for you.will be held alongside the 11th International Oat Conference (OAT2022).

Location: 4952 Great Southern Hwy, York

Timing: 9am registration and morning tea. Field Day to commence at 9.30am sharp and concludes at 1.30pm. An in-paddock Lunch is provided at 12.30pm by Gather York.

Travelling to York: If possible, please consider carpooling. Parking space at the field day site is limited, so please take directions from staff onsite.

Bus transport from Crown Perth and catering for the day is included. This Field Day is hosted by GIWA and is an optional addition to the conference, visiting oat trial sites in York, the oldest inland town of Western Australia (approximately 1.5 hours east of Perth).

Leaving Crown Perth in the morning, buses will travel to the field day site featuring:

• Australian oat grain and hay breeding material, including international germplasm diversity benchmarks, historical material and independent National Variety Trials
• oat agronomy experiments investigating source/sink constraints to oat grain yield, nitrogen timing on hay quality, and grain quality risk profiling in oat varieties.

An Australian themed lunch “in the paddock” will be provided, and after lunch, international and interstate attendees will then have the option of:

• a guided tour of the nearby Gilmac oat hay exporting business. Gilmac is the premier exporter of quality Australian fodder to dairy and beef industries across East Asia; including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Major products include hay, cereal straw and pellets.
• If the hay pressing facility is not for you, we are offering a guided tourist walk through the historic townsite of York.   Or you may wish to forgo the guided walk and instead spend time exploring on of York’s many attractions such as the York Motor Museum or The Sock Factory.

Our buses will then return you to Crown Perth in time for you to freshen up for the Conference Welcome function.

For Western Australian participants attending the Field Day only, you are welcome to make your own way to the trial site.  Site details will be emailed to all registered Field Day-only participants, and any spare seats on the buses leaving and returning to Crown Perth will be offered to those leaving from Perth.  Numbers for the Gilmac and York tours are restricted.

OAT2022 Field Day is sponsored by DPIRD.

Biosecurity is everyone’s business

Australia’s biosecurity risk management has been heightened in response to the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak currently occurring in neighbouring countries. FMD is one of Australia’s greatest biosecurity risks and could have a devastating impact on Australia’s livestock industries, trade and tourism.

To help protect Western Australia, the Conference Committee asks all OAT2022 Field Day attendees to follow biosecurity precautions which include:

• boot scrubbers as you board the buses at Crown Perth to remove any loose contamination, such as soil, adhering to footwear.
• shallow, disinfectant foot baths (approx. 1cm deep), to walk through as you disembark the buses at the Field Day site.