oats

Oats are chiefly a European and North American crop. These areas have the cool, moist climate to which oats are best adapted. Some winter oats are produced in the United States, but most are spring oats produced mainly in the north central states. In Ohio, oats are usually planted in April and harvested from late-July to mid-August.

Ohio ranks 13th nationally in oats production, and the top-producing counties in the state are Ashland, Columbiana, Holmes, Mercer and Wayne. In the 2002 Census of Agriculture, 3,865 Ohio farms reported raising oats on more than 55,000 acres, with an average yield of 59 bushels per acre. The highest recorded yield average for the state was 85 bushels per acre, set in 1985.

In the United States, oats were formerly grown mainly for horse feed; but with the coming of the motorized age, oats became a feed used chiefly for young livestock and poultry. In recent years, there has been an increase in oats used for human food. Oat bran has received considerable attention from the medical community for its role in reducing blood cholesterol. Several breakfast cereals and bread products are made from oat flour and rolled oat products.

Oat hulls also have been used as a raw material for fermentation to furfural, a chemical solvent used in refining minerals and for making resin. Another oat product has been used as an antioxidant and stabilizer in ice cream and other dairy products.

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