In comparison, conventional oats, weighing 34 pounds per bushel, are comprised of as much as 30 percent hull. They may provide an opportunity for increased usage. Production Canadian oat production predominantly occurs in Western Canada. For 1997-98, over 90 percent of production was in Western Canada compared with about 75 percent in 1980. Oats production has decreased in Eastern Canada because the declining value of oats as a feed, relative to other feed grains, makes it uneconomical.
Land is more valuable in other uses.
Production of oats in Western Canada fits well in agronomic rotation with other crops, and is a preferred annual fodder crop for cattle feeding. For some cattle producers, the area of oats harvested for grain is the residual after fodder requirements are met. Western Canadian oats also have ready access to the Minneapolis area for food quality oats. In the last decade, oat production has shifted from the Western to Eastern Prairies and closer to the major oats market in Minneapolis. Since the late 1980s, oat production has trended lower in Alberta while trending strongly higher in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.