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Crop Cleanliness in Flax by Linda Braun, Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission 
Saskatchewan produces the vast majority of Canadian flax (approximately 80%) and Canada is a major world exporter of flaxseed. Over the past few years, SaskFlax has been very involved in the natural fibers industry conducting research and development programs geared at complete plant utilization (seed and straw) to maximize flax’s potential in the food, feed, fiber and industrial marketplace. Saskatchewan, along with partners in Manitoba and Alberta has also been active in encouraging increased acreage and utilization under the Flax Canada 2015 initiative. Flax growers express concern about crop cleanliness. In fact, it is a leading factor for many producers when considering flax as a crop option. The weed kochia, for example, creates numerous harvest problems. Its later emergence means green competition at harvest time, particularly when straight cutting. Farmers then must decide to wait for a killing frost or continue to struggle with problems associated with the green matter. Kochia causes storage problems too. It’s extremely difficult to separate kochia seeds from flax. Flax farmers often report kochia heating in the bin, causing damage and quality issues for the stored flax. Value-added straw processors also express serious concerns about weed contamination and will often reject fields or only bale sections of fields for straw due to weed problems. Quality issues related to cleanliness impact the price paid to growers. The Commission has been concerned about flax production issues particularly weed control since its inception and has supported several research projects. Our latest project just released involved flax, sulfentrazone and control of weeds such as kochia. For flax to continue to gain acreage and global marketplace share in all arenas from food and feed to fiber and industrial uses, it must maintain quality. Our producers need more tools in their toolbox to profitably produce quality Canadian flax. One of those tools is the utilization of sulfentrazone products to retain crop cleanliness and yields. The Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission fully supports the process of registration and requests it be achieved in the shortest time frame possible. To download the Executive Summary of the research project, “Tolerance And Weed Control In Flax With Sulfentrazone: Final Report,” please click here or click on the icon above. For more information, contact SaskFlax head office: Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission |
