Funding drives hunger for oat knowledge

Being successful in securing a scholarship has broadened her horizons more than she could have dreamt - and she is far from done.

Ms Barrett is one of three Western Australians named as Nuffield scholars for 2024 and is sponsored by the Processed Oat Partnership and The Grain Industry Association of WA (GIWA).

Farming oats, wheat, barley and canola in York with her partner and his family, she has just completed the first itinerary of travel that comes with being a Nuffield Scholar, seven weeks in total.

Individuals selected to become a Nuffield Scholar each receive $40,000 to spend the year exploring agriculture industries on an international scale while representing their State and country.

Canberra was the first destination for Ms Barrett who is focusing on development opportunities for Australian oats during her scholarship year.

"All the Australian scholars went to Canberra for a week," Ms Barrett said.

"That was an opportunity for Nuffield Australia to prime us all about Australian agriculture and get us out of our bubbles, and learn about other industries that aren't ours."

The group of 24 Australian scholars attended the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics Outlook 2024 conference, spent time at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), learning of the many projects they are overseeing, and met with representatives from National Farmers' Federation (NFF).

"A highlight for me was hearing from Su McCluskey, who is the DAFF appointed representative for Australian Agriculture," Ms Barrett said.

"Su travels the world talking to our global partners about Australian agriculture and one of her key messages to us was that we are really good at talking to ourselves and we need to get the message out to the general public about our practices.

"The week in Canberra was really good, it prepared us for heading overseas to represent Australia."

The group flew from Canberra to Brazil to attend the Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference to explore global food systems, with a particular focus on Brazilian practices.

"Every year Nuffield hosts the conference in a different Nuffield county, this year it was Brazil's turn," Ms Barrett said.

"We spent eight days in Mato Grosso Do Sul, in the central west of Brazil where agriculture is massive.

"We joined 140 delegates from around 15 countries - a hugely diverse group of people from all different types of industries, from dairy, to chicken farming, agritourism, horticulture and cropping plus scholars and past scholars, a really good mix of people from all walks of life.

"It was really interesting to have different conversations and hear different perspectives.

"We heard from politicians about how policy making works in Brazil, challenges they are facing with labour capabilities, financing, geopolitical influence and impact, impacts of climate change and how they are addressing it, the future of carbon-smart farming and bioenergy.

"I was really impacted by the transparency about their potential and challenges, I went to Brazil with misconceptions which were certainly challenged.

"I was really impressed by their innovation and adoption of technology, their ability to scale and adapt to their intense climate and their focus on decarbonisation and moving towards sustainable practices.

"One of my key takeaways was Brazil's goal to transform nearly 100 million hectares of degraded pasture into productive land, and with Brazil's ability to double and sometimes triple crop, that will allow Brazil to be an incredibly large influence on the global market and economy."

Upon leaving Brazil, Ms Barrett also travelled to Germany and Ireland.

There are three components of a Nuffield Scholarship which include attending the Contemporary Scholars Conference, participating in a four-week global trip with other scholars called the Global Focus Program and undertaking individual research.

Ms Barrett has now completed the first two components and is now planning the international travel to inform her final report and presentation.

"The last seven weeks gave me a good insight into oats systems in other parts of the world," she said.

"Most places I travelled were growing oats mostly for silage apart from Ireland, but it gave me the opportunity to gain some different perspectives and get some good connections on where I might go on my next trip."

Ms Barrett said she has a rough itinerary in mind and will now begin connecting with contacts, new and old, booking meetings and flights.

"I want to explore what the future of oats is and understand how Australia can capitalise on the increasing demand for oats," she said.

"I plan to understand what other countries are doing in terms of the value add space for oats and understand what the future trends are going to be.

"I heard some interesting developments in the alternative protein space in Ireland and the UK and am keen to understand what needs to be done to build on the sustainability angle of growing oats."

Further developing her understanding of why Australian oats are so popular is another area of focus.

"Another of my key takeaways from the last seven weeks is that storytelling is so important, I really want to understand how we can build on that to tell our story of producing high quality and nutritious oat-based products."

The 2024 American Oat Workers' Conference in Saskatchewan, Canada in July will be the first stop in Ms Barrett's next block of travel.

"The oat workers' conference offers an opportunity to get a good grasp on the Canadian and US oat industry," she said.

"I am hoping by attending I will connect with a lot of people and spend the following weeks travelling around Canada and the US.

"Then I will be heading to the UK and Europe, and into Scandinavia to catch up with some growers, processors and manufacturers."

Travel to New Zealand and Asia is also on the cards.

"I want to try to get to New Zealand because I met some interesting people working with oats and to Asia to speak with some of our oat customers," she said.

Ms Barrett will be joined for the research leg of the journey by partner Alex Davies.

"It will be good to have someone else with me to ask other questions and get a different perspective," she said.