Avena Customer and Farmer Appreciation Day 2025
Central to Avena’s 2025 Customer and Farmer Appreciation Day (CAFAD) was a colorful field of 64 demonstration plots showing regenerative agriculture practices and new oat and pulse varietals. This remarkable display of everything from lentils, peas and oats to sunflowers, clover and turnips, was a refreshing experience for all, whether accustomed to spending days outdoors working in the fields or rarely stepping foot outside of an office or plant.
Avena collaborated with farmers, industry, agronomists and researchers on the plots, which were planted near our Rowatt, Saskatchewan facility. Seventy five attendees meandered through the plots which demonstrated intercropping, cover cropping and pollinator strips, and new oat and pulse varietals.
Special thanks to our plots partners: Big Mountain Foods, B. Lambert (Only Oats), Bob’s Red Mill, Collective Impact Ag, Danone North America, Field to Market Canada, Hippeas, Huel, Old Dutch, Once Upon a Farm, Protein Industries Canada, Riverside Natural Foods, SouthEast Research Farm, TheoryMesh, Warburtons.
SouthEast Research Farm agronomist Henry Ford and Avena Procurement Director Mike Gallais expertly led the tour. They answered thoughtful questions from farmers, comparing notes on how to introduce new regenerative agricultural practices, and filled in the blanks for customers investigating how these practices can make their products more sustainable.
Regan Ferguson of Collective Impact Ag, demonstrated a water infiltration test to the sound of buzzing bees on a pollinator strip filled with blooming annuals and perennials. This simple, but tricky test gives a good picture of how pollinator plants are affecting the soil moisture and reducing runoff.
Ryan Hutchison of South Country Equipment demonstrated See and Seed, the latest high tech precision ag technology from John Deere.
After lunch, networking and checking out displays by B. Lambert (Only Oats), Field to Market Canada, Oat Advantage and Riverside Natural Foods (MadeGood) under the tent, participants settled in to hear the backstory on Avena Sustainability Impact Projects.
Regan Ferguson and Shannon Knibbs of Roughbark Acres described pollinator strips implemented by Avena with support from Hippeas and Once Upon a Farm. Mike Gallais summarized the first year of a two-year oat/cover crop project supported by Huel. Jim Dyck of Oat Advantage shared an update on Avena’s new higher protein oat variety.
Avena launched its Avena Regen Ag Protocol (ARAP) program for supplying regen-ag verified oat and pulse ingredients beginning in 2026 and released its inaugural sustainability Impact Report.
While wildfire smoke may have dimmed the blue hue of the Prairie sky, CAFAD offered a day packed with inspirational ideas and discussion on how everyone in the value chain can do their part for a bright future.
Thank you to everyone who shared this insightful day with us –
Partnering for safe, healthy diets and a sustainable world.
