FLAX STRAW MANAGEMENT: STRIPPER HEADER TECHNOLOGY
SaskFlax Web Article Series

In Saskatchewan, producers plant 1.4 million acres to flax each year, about 70 % of Canada’s total production. Flax is considered a favourable addition to many farmers’ crop rotations—more than one in four Saskatchewan producers plant flax each year. However, an overwhelming constraint to flax production is dealing with flax straw residue.

Oilseed flax has a significant percentage of long tough stem fibers that decay slowly over time. This makes it difficult to incorporate flax straw into the soil after harvest since the fibers wrap themselves around and/or plug disks, wheels and shovels. In the past, one way to cope with flax straw was to drop it in windrows after the combine and then burn it directly or harrow or rake it into piles and then burn it. Today, this practise is discouraged for a number of reasons: because it is unsafe and can harm the soil; because the straw has economic value; and because of the damaging effect on air quality and human health.

To help raise awareness of alternatives to burning flax straw, the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission (SFDC) is working with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada on an Agri-Environmental Group Plan (AEGP) for straw management. Through this program, Saskatchewan flax producers, represented by SFDC, can work together on developing Beneficial Management Practises (BMPs) that will both improve air quality and enhance economic opportunities available to farmers.

This article will discuss the use of stripper headers as a harvesting option available for farmers to improve the quality of flax straw so that it can be used in other applications and sold at a higher value.

Stripper Header Technology

There is increasing interest in utilizing the flax straw that is presently uncollected. There are many potential products that could use flax fiber to complement or replace glass, cotton, or synthetic fibers. Flax straw value could be greatly improved if we can produce long pieces of intact straw that can be easily separated into the fiber and the “shive”, the remaining non-fiber part of the straw. Traditional harvesting methods, such as conventional and rotary combines, are targeted mainly toward seed quality, and produce battered, poor-quality straw because they send the seed boll and virtually the whole stalk of the plant through the combine.

When a stripper header is attached to a combine, it removes the bolls from the crop and leaves the straw standing. This leaves the straw in excellent condition for later cutting and baling.

As part of SFDC’s AEGP project, they have been working with producers in different parts of the province to evaluate the use of stripper headers in flax crops. While more research is still needed, some early observations that have come to light include:

• Different makes of combines have different frames that hold the header to the main part of the combine. Without the proper adapter, a stripper header cannot be mounted onto a combine.

• Using a stripper header allows for harvest to begin much earlier in the season than using conventional methods, because only the seed pod needs to be ripe, not the entire plant.
• Stripper headers work best where the stand is relatively even and the topography is flat or gently rolling. Wrapping problems can occur on uneven topography when one end of the stripper is very near the ground, or in fields with second-growth flax that is much shorter than the first growth.

• If a stripper header is attached to a relatively large capacity combine with a large sieve cleaning area, the combine operator can go 6 to 8 miles an hour, with the major constraint to speed being the roughness of the field. With a relatively small sieve cleaning area, forward speed will be constrained because the sieves do not have enough time to clean all of the seed out of the chaff and seed will be thrown out the back of the combine.

With the improvement in straw quality from the use of a stripper header, achieving a profitable financial return from flax straw becomes much more possible. SFDC continues to work with producers to look for ways to increase returns for their crop and to improve air quality in Saskatchewan.

For more information, contact the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission, at (306) 664-1901 or saskflax@saskflax.com.

SFDC gratefully acknowledges the support of Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada through the Canada-Saskatchewan Agri-Environmental Group Plan.