STAFF – The chair of the Flax Council of Canada expects farmers will be planting five million acres of flax and solin by 2005, more than three times what was seeded this year.
“It might be kind of lofty, alright,” admitted Gavin Hanley, who farms south of Regina.
“But we’re certainly looking that there’s going to be expansion on some of these other markets and when you put them all together, it adds up quite a bit.”
Traditionally, most flax has been crushed into linseed oil for industrial uses. This demand has dropped off since linseed oil is no longer a major ingredient for paint.
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But a recent flax conference explored new industrial and edible markets for the crop.
Archer Daniels Midland has developed an adhesive called Archer #1 for holding bonded wood composites together.
Michelle Vandevoorde, sales manager at the company’s crushing plant in Red Wing, Minn., told the conference Archer #1 is being used successfully as a substitute for an expensive resin in oriented strand board.
She said a typical oriented strand board plant using Archer #1 for 25 percent of its needs could save $625,000 a year.
ADM crushes about 30,000 tonnes of flax per year based on current sales of the oil. But Vandevoorde said future potential is huge because the market for oriented strand board is rapidly expanding.
Other companies are looking at ways to use the fibre from flax straw.
Barbara Isman of Cargill Ltd. described Durafibre Inc. to the conference, a joint venture with Sask-Can Fibre Inc. at Canora, Sask.
The company uses the fibre to make structural composites. Isman expects cars rolling off assembly lines in 1998 to contain flax fibre in their door panels. In 10 years, Isman said she thinks the company’s sales will be limited only by flax straw supply.
Increased consumption
Hanley said he also expects more people and animals to be eating flax in the next decade.
One new type is linola which produces the edible oil known as solin. The market development manager for the crop varieties owned by United Grain Growers said the crop has a lot of potential.
John Dean said solin is already being used in leading premium margarine brands because it is non-hydrogenated and has lower levels of saturated fats than other vegetable oils.
Dave Hickling of the Canadian International Grains Institute said there are still more questions than answers about how flax can be used in feed rations.
Hanley said the only way to expand the flax industry is to make sure there are diversified markets for the crop and have all industry segments work together on research and development.
