Cavena Nuda Oats

Harry Siemens – Uli Gehrer is one of a small group of producers who has invested time and money in diversifying into raising a new naked oats variety called Cavena Nuda on his farm near New Bothwell. While these growers had enough seed to plant nearly 1,500 acres, Gehrer has 460 acres on his farm while the total amount is closer to 1,100 that the growers will harvest in 2008.

Uli called from the combine after harvesting the first 160 acres to report a yield of 3,600 pounds to the acre, considerably more than the 2,500 pounds to the acre he harvested in 2007. When converting that to what regular oats would yield, he said it was more like 105 bushels an acre in normal oats. However, since the hulls, representing about 25 percent of the weight, come off at the combine and pass through the machine back into the soil, the yield is closer to 140 bushels an acre.

“We have to get the word out when cooked like rice, they cook the same way but far more nutritious then rice,” said Uli.

Not only that, the Cavena Nuda have this naturally waxy layer on them so they don’t go rancid and will keep for numerous years.

“We have some product that has kept for four or five years and has not gone rancid yet,” he said. “A person can choose to make it into rolled oats but the real market is as a rice supplement.”

The challenge of such a product is marketing and the company has to wait for some of the analysis of individual food processors who are considering taking on the product if it looks like it can work for them.

“I can sell it off the combine for the oats groats price, but I think it will have much greater value once the public discovers the real value of the product as a human healthy food,” he said.

Wedge Farms Nutrition has listed the following unique properties of Cavena Nuda oats.

Naturally Hulless – Hulls are very loose at harvest and left in the field to return to the soil. Undamaged whole groats keep well in dry storage but dehulled groats from covered oats must be steam treated to avoid turning rancid.

Nutrition Retention – Cavena Nuda retains a high protein level and all its flavor without heat treatment.

Environmental Impact – Cavena Nuda requires much less processing and returns the hulls to the soil, giving it a very low carbon footprint. As well, when used in place of rice, provides an ultra low water usage grain compared to paddy rice.

Development – Cavena is a quantum leap in grain breeding. It is naturally hulless and hairless making it superior to regular and older hulls oats. It needs far less processing and creates very little waste product compared to regular oats. More than 20 years of research conducted by Vern Burrows [“Dr. Oats”] Research Scientist Emeritus, at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that culminated in the introduction of Cavena – the first of its kind in the world.