Flax research took a step forward last week with the announcement that Saskatchewan is providing Prairie Genome with $2.4 million.
The government funding is for four research projects, including flax genomics and the commercialization of agricultural products.
Funding for the flax project, called Total Utilization of Flax Genomics (TUFGEN), is $1.2 million, while funding for the commercialization project, called Value Generation through Genomics (VALGEN), is $680,000.
There was also $470,000 for the National Research Council’s Plant Biotech Institute and $77,200 for a biofuel project at the University of Manitoba.
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Deputy agriculture minister Alanna Koch said research is the key to a modern, profitable and sustainable agriculture industry.
“Considering that Saskatchewan is home to 70 percent of Canada’s flax acreage, it’s important that Saskatchewan leads flax research and development,” she said.
TUFGEN’s goal is to develop flax as a dual-purpose crop that provides high value and high quality products from flax seed and fibre.
“Saskatchewan would like to have a flax plant that provides excellent fibre, as well as excellent oil. We’d also like the oil to be useful for human consumption and industrial applications.”
Brett Fairbairn, University of Saskatchewan vice-president of academics, said another goal is to sequence the flax genome, which will help produce a genetic map of the crop. This in turn will lead to gene discovery.
“In short, the genes that will make flax a total utilization crop. We aim at providing the tools that will lead to better, more valuable varieties and make flax an important part of a more sustainable agriculture production on the Prairies.”
Peter Phillips of the university’s Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy said the VALGEN project will help new products and technologies realize their economic and social potential.
Early to Prairies
Flax is one of the earliest crops grown on the Prairies and this could help restore its luster, said U of S flax breeder Gordon Rowland.
“In more recent times its production has fallen in part because relatively few scientific resources were focused on the crop.”
Linda Braun, executive director of the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission, echoed those comments.
“It’s a really exciting story because flax has been an ancient crop.
“It’s been a stalwart crop for farmers in that they always have it in their rotation.
“If we ever wanted to increase the acreage, we need to know a little bit more about it’s genomics. We need to know more about the straw and yield to make it competitive with some of the other cash crops around, and flax has some unique ingredients.
“Through this project and the gene discovery, we’re going to see a lot of those unique ingredients. I think they’re going to burst onto the scene because we’ll have a better understanding,” she said.
“We can breed for them and we can make flax very unique to a lot of different market areas around the globe.”
