The aim of this thesis was to find out the different ways wild oats spread, the different ways used to prevent the spreading and also to find out the attitudes the farmers in the area of Jämsä have towards wild oats. The research project was commissioned by Agricultural governments Keuruu co-operation region, Jämsä rural administration.

Wild oats cause problems in farming in the whole country, which is why I was interested in the particular situation with wild oats in the Jämsä area. As farmers are personally responsible for the prevention of wild oat growth, I also wanted to assess their attitudes and consider some options for how the spreading of wild oats could be slowed down.

The data collection was carried out in the form of a questionnaire and the data was collected from farmers in Jämsä. I sent 283 questionnaires in the mail to all farmers in Jämsä who had applied for agricultural subsidies in 2015. The participants had four weeks to respond in June-July 2015. I received a total of 121 responses. 28.9% of respondents said they had wild oats on their farm and a total of 81.9% of respondents said they would be able to identify wild oats. The majority of the respondents said they believed animals were the cause of wild oats spreading to their farm and most used weeding and chemical means, as well as a combination of both, to impede wild oat growth. 96.6% of the respondents want to prevent wild oats from spreading in Jämsä, which is a good indication of the attitudes farmers have towards wild oats.

The data shows that farmers need a reminder of the facts related to the spread of wild oats and the prevention of the spreading, as well as the latest data on the actual amounts of wild oat pollutions and the speed of the spreading of wild oats in Jämsä. The wild oat inspections carried out by the council were perceived to be useful, so it is recommended that these are continued in an advisory manner. The results also indicate some possible sanctions for the failure to take action to prevent the spreading of wild oats.