Optimising oat yield and quality to deliver sustainable production and economic impact (Opti-Oat)

The demand for high quality oats for food use has risen by over 23% since 2008 and is projected to increase further with forecast growth of 5% p.a. in the breakfast and healthy snack foods category. Increasing the sustainable production of healthy and nutritious food is a priority for the UK food sector. However, the percentage of home-grown oats has declined, primarily because returns on alternative break crops are higher. In large part this is because there is a significant yield gap of 3.6t/ha between average and the highest yields, indicating most growers do not have the appropriate agronomic information and guides to achieve optimal yields and quality to maximise returns. This project will provide UK oat producers with world-leading agronomic 'tools' to maximise grower returns and capitalise on the increasing demand for food grade oats. The ability to accurately phenotype crops during the season in field, and to link this with variation in final yield and quality in order to improve performance, has been a long term goal of the agricultural industry. The technology around Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), including the hardware software for image acquisition and processing, is rapidly emerging as a cost-effective platform for measuring in-field and genetic variation, yet commonly few users go beyond this step. In the context of the proposed work, this technology has the potential to transform oat crop production and provide a template that can be applied to other crops. A new multi-spectral camera system, developed by URSULA Agriculture and Aberystwyth University, delivers unparalleled resolution, coverage and optical clarity within a small UAS payload and will underpin this project. This project will build on these advances to develop bespoke software (image processing routines and object-based classification algorithms) specific to oats, which are necessary to translate the UAS imagery into meaningful crop data on growth and development. Critically, these algorithms will be calibrated against comprehensive measurements made on the ground. These innovative approaches, combined with novel high-throughput assessment of grain quality, will be applied to data from the monitoring of oat crop growth, development, yield formation and grain quality on small plots and commercially-grown fields of selected modern varieties spanning a wide range of environments and management systems. This unique dataset will allow the dissection of variety x environment x management interactions by using factorial regression models originally developed for barley. It will provide the background data for development of a process-based Oat Crop Model and lay the foundation for model-driven management decision support tools. Finally, this multi-year dataset will be mined to explain differential varietal sensitivities to explicit environmental and/or physiological variables associated with the trials to allow the construction of an Oat Growth Guide, similar to the widely adopted Wheat and Barley Growth Guides (HGCA, 2008 & 2005). This will give appropriate detail and an in-depth knowledge to the whole oat growth process and identify critical crop management points to maximise yield, quality and sustainability. Focused dissemination of these innovative tools will increase average yields by at least 1 t/ha (equivalent to a £15M uplift p.a. in output from the existing oat land base), contribute to sustainable intensification, reduce supply risk for millers, reduce imports, catalyse food product innovation and consumer access to healthy grains and stimulate milled product export.

This project will provide UK oat producers with world leading agronomic 'tools' to maximise grower returns and capitalise on the increasing demand for food grade oats. The objectives are 1) Develop, integrate and validate algorithms for translating visual / spectral sensor data from Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into quantifiable crop parameters to enable growers to optimise management for yield and quality across fields; 2) develop an Oat Crop Model and associated decision support tools; 3) develop an Oat Growth Guide which will provide a reference to assess crops status against key development bench-marks. Focused dissemination of these innovative tools will increase average yields by at least 1t/ha, contribute to sustainable intensification, reduce supply risk for millers, reduce imports, catalyse product innovation and stimulate milled product export.

The major beneficiaries of this research will be:
Commercial partners: URSULA Ag will benefit from a unique oat UAS platform that can be leveraged globally with PepsiCo growers. The development and testing of new hardware and software in this project will increase and improve products offered by URSULA Ag to the UK ag sector. PepsiCo through its ownerhsip of the Quaker and Scott's brands is well positioned to realise the benefits from this project: increased production will provide supply security while improved grain quality will increase mill performance, reduce waste, and catalyse product innovation, thereby increasing consumer access to this healthy grain. Furthermore, PepsiCo is a significant exporter of oat-based food products to European, Middle East and African nations. These markets are expected to increase, boosting export revenue to the UK from home-grown, value-added oat products. PepsiCo will disseminate all the tools through its grower network.
Consumer: Increasing awareness of the health benefits of oats, due to the beta-glucan content and compositional characteristics of the grain, is increasing consumer demand for oats and oat-based products. This occurs when the oat crop is increasingly challenged by competition from other cereals. Developing advanced tools to increase the yield and quality of oats grown in the UK will increase the financial return of growing oats and will help to ensure that the milling industry has a greater security of supply. The focus on grain quality and composition will also ensure that new varieties have the essential characteristics that secure the economic efficiency of oat mills. Focus on grain composition will also enhance the potential of using oats for different end-uses and drive food product innovation.

Arable sector: The project will deliver a significant economic and environmental benefit to the arable sector. Oats are recognised as a low input cereal crop that can be grown in arable rotations across the UK. It is an excellent break crop and therefore has a major role in sustainable arable rotations. Development of tools to enhance yield, increase yield stability and grain quality, which meet the needs of end-users and the oat value-chains, will improve the economics of growing the crop and its value to the arable sector. This will ensure that oats remain a competitive crop for arable production and that the benefit of growing oats in arable rotations is realised, helping to ensure the overall profitability of the farm operation. For many growers, this will be important to satisfy the the new crop diversification, or 'greening' criteria of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) known as the 'three crop rule." This project will deliver technologies to target inputs to optimal growth stages and crop status, including variable rate applications, for maximising on-farm yields and resulting in increased grower returns and reduced environmental impact. Even a conservative uplift in yield of 1t/ha after three years (for the consortium growers first then, following the exclusivity period, across the estimated 100,000 ha UK food oat production base) will increase grower returns by >£15M/yr at the farm gate (based on 100 kt @ £150/t). Technologies developed will also be transferable to non-cereal crops and other cereals such as wheat and barley.

Society: Direct benefit will be gained from ensuring the supply of oats, a nutritious wholegrain food with proven health benefits. Oat varieties with enhanced yield and quality will improve the economics of growing oats, enhancing cropping diversity and ensuring that this low input crop remains a part of sustainable arable rotations. Increased profitability of growing oats will accrue throughout the value chain from the farmer to the consumer. The future sustainability of UK agriculture is dependent on economic competitiveness, reducing environmental footprint and adapting to climate change.