The Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA) is an organization that represents Canadian oat growers. Emerging is working on various outreach campaigns to increase the consumption of oats within three markets; Mexico, Japan and North America. These consumer campaigns include market-specific virtual events, social media content, and recipe development to showcase the versatility and health benefits of oats. Each campaign engages with local chefs and food influencers to develop original recipes within multiple languages.
Recipe Contests
Since 2011, Avena Canadiense has launched an annual recipe contest to gather interesting oat-based recipes from consumers in Mexico. The winning recipes, along with the winning chefs, are featured on the Avena Canadiense website and social channels throughout the year.
The 9th recipe contest for Avena Canadiense took place May 2023. The categories featured this year include: Inspired by Mexican cuisine, Vegetarian & Gluten Free, Oats & Diabetes, Creative. There was also a special category for Beverages to encourage creative uses of oat milk. Following the contest, a virtual ceremony was held through the Avena Canadiense Facebook page to honour the 13 winning chefs and showcase their recipes. The ceremony garnered over 124,000 views and reached over 134,000 people on Facebook alone.
Diabetes Awareness Events in Mexico
World Diabetes Day is celebrated worldwide on November 14. There are more than 12 million people living with diabetes in Mexico and half of them are undiagnosed. Emerging Ag, on behalf of the Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA), partners with the Mexican Diabetes Federation to run a number of events to commemorate World Diabetes Day, and to raise awareness on the importance of early diagnosis and on the role of oats in managing diabetes. The messages shared on those days focus on the importance of maintaining a balanced diet and doing physical activity as key measures to prevent and reduce diabetes, and on the health benefits of oats and on its affordability for Mexicans. Mexico imports 95% of its oats from Canada.
In previous years, events have taken place in-person in Mexico City. These events have included;
- Cooking Workshops at Colegio Superior de Gastronomía
- A media event entitled “Oats, the healthy choice for Mexican cuisine” with journalists to feature recipes from the Avena Canadiense Recipe Contest
- The Mexican Diabetes Federation organized its annual awareness fair at Plaza Tlaxcoaque and Avena Canada had a booth featuring the recipe booklet, flyers and banners.
Since 2020, all events have been hosted virtually through Zoom and Facebook Live.
Trade Missions
POGA’s efforts in the Mexican market continue to be tireless and successful. Besides the activities in the digital world, POGA has organised a Trade Mission each year since 2016, to Mexico City and Guadalajara to meet with relevant players in the country.
Avena Canadiense - Mexico
Avena Canadiense was launched in April 2014 and website provides valuable information about Canadian oats in a friendly and appetizing way. Mexican visitors can find out all the nutritional properties of oats and cook up culturally adapted and customized oat recipes – from enchiladas to pancakes – that offer Mexican consumers inspiration on how to easily integrate oats in their daily diet.
Emerging Ag also launched a Facebook Fan Page and designed and executed a social advertising campaign to promote the website among Mexican consumers. As of September 2022, this page has 380,007 followers. The page regularly reaches over 100,000 Mexican consumers a day. We estimate that 1 in 3 Mexicans has interacted with the Avena Canadiense campaign in some capacity over the past year.
Oats Everyday - North America
Emerging also manages Oats Everyday, a North American focused consumer campaign with a website and Facebook fan page. Oats Everyday has over 77,000 followers and reaches over 2.2 million people each month.
Kanadanootsumugi – Japan
Similarly to Avena Canadiense and Oats Everyday, the newly launched Japanese-focused consumer campaign uses a website and Facebook page to reach its audience. Kanadanootsumgi reaches over 1.3 million people within Japan each month and has grown a dedicated following of over 4,900 people.