Flax facts
A look at the crop that turns the prairies blue
You could easily mistake it for a shimmering blue lake of water that has sprung up from nowhere.
Fields of flax are in full bloom in this region at the moment and depending on the time of day you could be greeted by acres of blue flowers smiling in the sunshine.
“The flowers are a much more intense blue earlier in the day before it gets too hot,” said Cory Nelson, whose family has farmed near Burdett for more than 100 years.
The beautiful sight of blue flowers is fleeting. Flax plants are in bloom only half the time canola plants are. A canola flower also opens and stays open while flax blooms close at night, said Nelson. One flax plant may have 10 stems each with its own flower.
Flax was grow extensively in the Burdett area in the 1980s and then not so much until about three years ago when a new market for the product opened up in China, said Nelson. It is still not as financially viable as canola but it is a good rotation crop.
The best grade of flax seed “milling grade” is for the food industry, said Nelson. Grade 1 seed is crushed for oil with some used in paint and for linseed oil.
Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil, is obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant.
Some people consume flax oil because it is high in Omega 3, said Nelson. The eggs you see in the supermarket boasting Omega 3 on the box come from chickens that are fed a diet rich in flax.
Linen cloth used for high quality kitchen towels, clothing and home fashion fabrics is made from flax. The cellulose fibers that grow inside the stalks of the flax plant are used to spin and then weave the cloth.
Linen textiles are some of the oldest in the world, going back thousands of years and even used as currency in ancient Egypt.
Many of the flax crops growing in this region depend on irrigation. You can get 50 bushels with irrigation and 25 for a crop without irrigation, said Nelson.
“This year it’s probably going to be a fairly significant crop, about three times more on irrigation,” said Nelson. “Normal would probably be about double. This year on dry land is going to be about 15 bushels.”
Flax seeds are small and are planted shallow around May 1, which is the same time for planting spring wheat planting, said Nelson. The flax will not be ready for harvesting until the end of September, while the wheat will be ready three weeks earlier.
There is no need for any bees to do any pollinating. “It is self-fertile,” said Nelson. When the flax is ready to harvest the combine separates the seed from the chaff. The rest of the plant is often left on the field initially and then baled to be used for bedding for cattle, said Nelson. Some farmers chop the plant up but it is difficult to do this with flax.
The harvest is done by “straight cutting” and collecting. It used to be “swathed” first but that is no longer done.
“If we swathed, the wind would come and blow it all over the place,” said Nelson.
The seed is stored and sold as a commodity to a mill or elevator such as Cargill, P&H or Viterra who export it, said Nelson.
“A lot of ours goes to China, some goes to Europe and the U.S., but China is our main market,” said Nelson.