Oats
A cool-climate cereal once grown to fuel horses, now a smaller crop prized for porridge, oat milk and animal feed.
Grains · No. 90
- Not on a critical list
- HHI 665 · unconcentrated
Oats once fuelled the world's horses; when tractors arrived, the crop nearly halved and found new life in porridge.
Chart: Illustration: Oats
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Oats like cool, moist summers and tolerate poor, acid soils, growing from the Canadian prairies to Finland. World output was 22.4 Mt in 2024.
Three things to know
- World oat production fell from 39.9 Mt in 1990 to 22.4 Mt in 2024, a 44% drop that began when tractors replaced horses.
- Canada supplied 43.9% of world oat export value in 2024, and the US took 31.6% of imports, mostly by rail.
- Oats are rich in soluble fibre called beta-glucan, which supports the health claims on breakfast boxes.
The journey
- 1 Cool farmlandSown in spring on cool, moist land
- 2 HarvestCombine harvested in late summer
- 3 GradingSorted for milling or feed
- 4 MillingDehulled, kilned and rolled
- 5 End usesOatmeal, cereals, oat drinks, feed