The Second International Oat Conference. of which these are the proceedings.was heldat Aberystwyth. 15-18 July.1985. In thebusiness meeting heldatthecloseof theFirstInternational Oat Workshop that was held at PennsylvaniaStateUniversity in 1982. an Internat i ona1 Organsi i ng Committee under the chairmanship of Or KJ Frey was electedto organisethe next conference.and Aberystwyth was proposed and agreed as the venue. The final date of the Second Conferenceand the out 1i ne of the programme. inc1udi ng selection of the rnain speakers. was agreed by the Internat i ona1 Committee but 1oca1 arrangements and finalisation of the programme were delegatedto a local sub-committee centredat the Welsh Plant Breeding Station. We wish to record our appreciationof the work done bythis localcommittee in assuming various organisational responsibilities. From the outsettherewas a firm committmentto makethe Conferenceas international as possible and every effortwas made both to provide a programme thatwouldattract participants from allpartsof the worldand to keep costs to a minimum so as to increasethe chances of potential delegatesbeing ableto attend. Alistof participantsis includedbut it is worthyof notethattwenty-three countr ies were represented. The Conferencewas organisedintoseven half-daysessions. Six of these covered differenttopics relevantto the improvement of oats and the seventhwas a visit to the Welsh PlantBreedingStationwhere laboratory and fieldwork ontheoatcrop was demonstrated.