2004 Winter Field Day in Redvers, SK

The Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission teamed up with the South East Research Farm at Redvers, along with the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food & Rural Revitalization on March 3, 2004 for its first ever Flax Winter Field Day in Redvers, Saskatchewan. Close to sixty producers were in attendance.

The agenda for the day included a variety of speakers who covered topics relevant to today’s flax production, practices and research. Dr. Gordon Rowland of the Crop Development Center in Saskatoon and Dr. Scott Duguid of AAFC Morden Research Station in Manitoba discussed flax breeding, while Bert Vandenberg of the Crop Development Center covered the area of pulse breeding.  Alvin Ulrich of Biolin Research gave a flax fiber update. Other speakers included Brian Sim of SAFRR who discussed contracting issues, Allison Schoofs of the University of Manitoba who talked about pesticide free production and the South East Research Farm’s manager, Bryan Briggs who gave an update on the happenings at the area’s crop research site.

Throughout the day, producers had opportunities to direct questions to the speakers and have open discussions about the information presented. By all reports, the day was a great success, with positive feedback from the producers in attendance.

This Winter Field Day meeting, along with the  SaskFlax’s annual meeting and flax day at the Crop Production Show in Saskatoon are great ways for the area’s producers to receive hands-on information from the experts in producing and processing a variety of flax byproducts.