Hulless Oats: One Crop, Two Markets for Organic Growers

Demand for organic grain is climbing, and in Pennsylvania much of that comes from the state's organic poultry industry, which depends on a steady supply of organic feed. Corn and soybeans make up most poultry rations, but small grains like spring oats can diversify a corn-soybean rotation, improve soil health, and open new markets for growers. Hulless oats are especially promising because they lack an outer hull, require less processing, and pack more protein per unit. This means that a single crop can potentially reach both animal feed and higher-value human food markets. One problem is that very few research-based guidelines exist for growing these oats organically in the Northeast. Penn State master's student Emily McFadden is working to fill that gap.

At the heart of organic grain production lies a stubborn tradeoff: Without herbicides, farmers lean heavily on tillage and cultivation to manage weeds, but frequent, intensive soil disturbance degrades soil health, reducing aggregate stability, biological activity, and organic matter over time. Many growers would like to implement reduced tillage practices but hesitate, due to weed management concerns. McFadden's research, conducted within Penn State's reduced-tillage organic systems experiments (ROSE) at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, asks whether different agronomic choices can let farmers ease off the plow without losing the weed battle.

Organic rotational no-till events typically lead to higher densities of perennial and late-emerging weeds in a field. McFadden's project is one of the first to examine how best to suppress weeds following a no-till phase in an organic rotation. Specifically, she is investigating whether spring oats are a suitable crop for weed suppression. McFadden is testing several cultural weed management strategies. Cultural weed management strategies are techniques that use crop production practices to suppress weeds rather than relying on chemicals or steel. Planting oats early in spring adds another layer of suppression by disrupting the life cycles of summer weeds, a concept researchers call asynchronous disturbance. Small grains like oats are already good disruptors of the weeds that typically take hold in a corn-soybean rotation. McFadden is researching how to best help the oat outcompete weeds by getting it established quickly and forming a dense canopy early in the season, prior to weed establishment. McFadden and her advisors, Dr. Daniela Carrijo and Dr. John Wallace, are testing how different management levers: seeding rate, poultry manure fertility rate, row spacing, and oat varieties affect weed-crop competition, and how those choices interact with the soil management legacy left by a rotational no-till soybean phase.

Results are already pointing to practical takeaways for growers. Increasing the seeding rate from the standard 1.5 million seeds per acre to a higher rate of 2.5 million seeds per acre cut weed biomass by 30 to 39 percent across two experiments, and in one experiment boosted yield by nearly 19 percent, which may be a relatively simple change if economic returns exceed the additional seed cost. Variety choice mattered just as much and revealed important tradeoffs. Streaker produced the highest yields but lodged badly while Nitro stayed upright and carried the highest grain protein content. In practical terms, that means Streaker might suit a grower aiming for feed-grade volume, while Nitro could be a better fit for someone targeting the higher-protein food-grade market. These are the kinds of variety-specific recommendations that have been largely missing for organic growers in the region.

The research also highlights some reasons why oats are a relatively rare organic crop in this region. The hulless varieties that food-grade end-users most want, such as the completely hairless, nearly processing-free Gehl, are hard to source, often proprietary, and in McFadden's preliminary experiments, among the lowest yielding. That leaves a real tension between what the market is asking for and what currently grows well in Pennsylvania fields.

Ultimately, McFadden's work reflects a broader goal shared across a large collaborative team spanning weed science, agronomy, plant pathology, food science, and poultry science to make organic small grains both resilient in fluctuating markets and a changing environment for Pennsylvania farmers. By using cultural management strategies, matching varieties to markets, and identifying where reduced tillage can realistically work, the research aims to give growers a clearer playbook for diversifying their rotations. Results are expected in the next couple of seasons, but early findings already offer organic grain farmers something useful: evidence that thoughtful choices about seeding, fertility, and variety can shift the odds in the weed battle.