What oat breeders really need from biotechnology?

Various aspects of biotechnology have considerable potential to offer the oat improvement community. There are two principal criteria to judge the usefulness of any biotechnological approach: 1) do they address a critical need of oat breeders, and 2) are they cost effective. In the long term these must be satisfied to really make a contribution, novelty is not enough. There is considerable potential in borrowing from other species in terms of comparative genomics and in terms of adapting procedures which function well with other organisms. A complementing strategy among breeders and biotechnologists will best serve the oat improvement community.