Southland oat-based products to go global

A beverage made from Otago/Southland oats (left), compared with one made from Scandinavian oats (right). Photo / Supplied

Beverages, nutraceuticals, and other products made from oats grown in Southland will be available to the Asian Pacific and United States markets in late 2019 or early 2020, says Venture Southland group manager of business and strategic products, Steve Canny.

Venture Southland also intended to announce the name of its new capital investment partner for its oat product development project within the next three months, Mr Canny said.

''We are working in collaboration with a major investor at the moment and this investor has a vast knowledge of the health and wellness sector.

''We have been very diligent in attracting people who have industry knowledge to this project and that has been really critical.''

Venture Southland has been working with growers and other parties for the past five years to research and develop oat products to take advantage of the global $1.5 trillion health and wellness market.

''The [international] health and wellness sector's growth rate is 13% annually,'' he said.

He said they intended to leverage off New Zealand's reputation for high food safety and production standards, which he said made it easier to sell to overseas consumers.

Mr Canny said they also planned a consultation process with growers to provide further information to them.

''Oats are a superfood,'' Mr Canny said.

''They improve human health.''

Product manufacturing trials in Singapore earlier this year were successful and designs for a specialist plant and equipment have been completed.

He said the response from farmers had been positive.

Southland was blessed with excellent soils for oat growing, and the recently released Southern Gold L5 cultivar was proving successful, with improved yield, productivity and returns for farmers.

Mr Canny said once the project was under way, he expected it would be worth about $500million to Southland during the next 10 years.

- Southern Rural Life