WINNIPEG – In Garvin Hanley’s mind, the only good thing about the early snow this year is that more farmers will grow flax next year.
The chair of the Flax Council of Canada said he heard during Western Canadian Agribition from many people how easy it is to get flax off snowy fields, especially compared to canaryseed.
“They’re just happy as heck because after the flax was done, they had to go into some of these tangled messes where the snow was,” said Hanley, who farms south of Regina.
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And Hanley said farmers are noticing the price of flax is standing up well against prices of other crops. Flax stayed steady while canola and cereal prices have fallen hard and fast.
But Paul Erickson questions how stable flax prices are, given that farmers may decide to plant more next year. The general manager of Cargill’s oilseed crushing plant at Fargo, N.D. said Canadian flax exports are down from this time last year, particularly to the key European market.
Erickson told a recent Flax Council of Canada conference that not much flax will move until spring, when the St. Lawrence Seaway reopens.
He expects European demand will not deplete Canadian supplies. Rather, he thinks ending stocks will be higher than last year’s 101,000 tonnes.
Think ahead
“If you’re going to carry over higher ending stocks and plant more (in the spring), you might want to take some steps in advance rather than waiting for (prices to fall),” Erickson said.
He said flax has declined to specialty crop status in the United States, with a year’s production filling only one large ship.
“Canada is the world’s flax basket,” he said. “Nobody else is really growing very much of it any more.”
While more uses are being found for the crop, and future demand is expected strong, Erickson said the fluctuating size of the crop has been one of its problems.
Inconsistent supply “is the toughest thing for somebody to manage and run a business around, whether you’re a farmer or a processor or end user,” he said.
