Scottish agronomist full of praise for Southland’s oats

Crop and soils agronomist Gordon Rennie, of Fife in Scotland, stands in a trial crop of oats on a farm near Gore. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Southern farmers grow the best oats, a Scottish agronomist says.

About 70 people attended an oat industry field day on Graeme and Elspeth Gardyne’s farm Viewbrae in Chatton, about 20km north of Gore on February 3.

Standing in a trial crop of oats on the farm, Plant Research New Zealand plant breeder Adrian Russell introduced “the oat father” of Scotland, agronomist Gordon Rennie and asked him for his perspective on the crop.

“You guys are doing a fantastic job down here. We can’t grow oats to the same level of yield in Scotland - you seem to have a better climate and better soils.”

Looking at the crop of oats he was standing in, he said it would be among the best if he was comparing it with crops in Scotland.

“You’ve done a good job - it was well worth travelling 12,000 miles to see.”

Speaking to Southern Rural Life at the event, he described the South as “oat heaven”.

The South was the best place in New Zealand to grow the grain, he said.

A reason being southern farmers grow grain by relying on rain rather than “huge pivot irrigators”, which made their systems more sustainable.

“This is the mecca for growing oats.”