Minnesota has always had a special love for oats. The state has been one of the nation’s leading oat producers for decades, often alternating in the top spot with South Dakota.

It helps that the crop grows optimally in cooler climates, particularly when nighttime temperatures don’t get terribly high.

In the 1960s, Minnesota planted millions of acres of oats on average each year. But now, oats account for only about 200,000 planted acres in the state, says Kevin Smith, an oat breeder in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota.

That’s because a lot of that acreage has been replaced by corn and soybeans, adds Jochum Wiersma, a UMN Extension Small Grains Agronomist. But “there’s still demand for oats to be used in food products.”

Smith kept the food industry top of mind when researching and breeding his newest oat variety: MN-Amber.

“We want to develop characteristics the food industry is interested in,” Smith explains to TCB. “That includes a higher grain protein for farmers to grow, a higher yield and test weight, and an improved plumpness of the kernels, which is important for millers.”

MN-Amber possesses another critical characteristic: beta glucan, a type of fiber found in yeast, oats, and barley that supports immune function and cardiovascular health.

Take the breakfast cereal Cheerios for example. If oats have the right level of beta glucan to produce a large amount of soluble fiber, food companies will add a “sellable” label to its packaging, which appeals to consumers, noting the number of servings of fiber per day recommended to reduce your risk of heart disease and lower your cholesterol, Smith explains.

MN-Amber Took a Decade to Breed and Study

The University of Minnesota’s plant-breeding program isn’t novel. Undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students have collaborated with lead plant breeders for more than 100 years.

The program, though, stalled in the early 2010s. The previous breeder retired and the university didn’t fill the position immediately. Then, in 2015, Smith took over the position and restarted the U’s small-grain breeding program. (Smith leads a barley breeding program in addition to oat breeding.)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, PepsiCo, and CFANS (the U’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences) fully fund the university’s program breeding small grains through grants. Annually, the program receives between $500,000-$600,000, and one-third of that money supports oat breeding.

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MN-Amber is the second oat introduction for Smith’s team since they revived the program. Researchers gave the oat its name due to its yellow-ish color. In 2019, the university released a variety called MN-Pearl, which gets its name because of its white color. Historically, the food industry has looked for white oats. “It’s a little bit of a mystery as to why white oats are preferred,” Smith admits.

With MN-Amber, “the goal was to get something that was as good or better than what growers currently have,” Wiersma explains. “I think MN-Amber fits that bill compared to the previous releases that came out of the University of Minnesota. There’s a slightly higher yield potential, and those are very small, incremental increases.”

In addition, Smith says MN-Amber’s test weight (density) and grain protein have improved on MN-Pearl’s.

The program begins research and breeding 10 years prior to an oat’s release to producers. First, for about three months, the program breeds two parents it believes will develop into grains with great characteristics. Then, Smith and his team of four technicians make further crosses throughout the year in a winter greenhouse to test for diseases, which he says is “really important.”

Over the next three years, the team researches those crosses to see how the oats perform for different traits. At the same time, the university monitors more than 1,000 oat progenies, or offspring. Years later, Smith and his technicians narrow their testing down to a few progenies that could emerge as new oat varieties.

Last, the program travels up to a dozen different areas across Minnesota for farm and meal trials testing characteristic performance.

Growing the Idea in Farmers’ Minds to Plant MN-Amber

Farmers have already begun to purchase oat seeds for the season, because growers generally plant in March.

Specialized farmers or seed companies can purchase the MN-Amber “foundation seed” this year to market certified seeds for planting.

While seed producers work on a certified seed for growers, Smith says the university’s plant breeding program continues to ask, “What improvements will [the next oat variety] have over the one we just released?” Smith wants to improve MN-Amber’s resistance to crown rot, a fungal disease causing decay at a plant’s base.