WINNIPEG – Fields in Western Canada last summer were the bluest they’ve been since 1970, making the Flax Council of Canada anything but blue.
Statistics Canada’s final field crop production report showed farmers planted 2.165 million acres of flax, producing 1.097 million tonnes of the seed.
But some members of the council voiced concerns at the group’s annual meeting last week that some of those fields will surely switch to the gold of wheat next summer.
Donald Frith, president of the council, noted flax enjoyed good prices and production last year.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“For 1995-96, the picture is not as clear,” he said in his address to the meeting. “Production has provided good supplies but market response, while positive, is still below last year’s levels.”
Frith and Garvin Hanley, chair of the council’s board of directors, said high prices for cereals will tempt many producers away from oilseeds.
Optimistic outlook
But Hanley, who farms near Regina, said he’s positive about this year’s prospects. “We’re quite pleased with the outlook for the upcoming year, not only in flax production, but we’re optimistic on the market side,” he said in an interview.
Hanley said he’s been forecasting prices between $7 and $8 per bushel net to the farmer. He said prices will determine whether farmers will choose flax over wheat or barley, but at any rate, the seed fits well into many rotations.
Frith said that once solin, edible vegetable oil made from flaxseed, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada, producers will have “a third option in the planning of their oilseed rotation.”
Hanley said the attention flax has been getting from nutritional experts, bakers and poultry producers in the last few years is also cause for celebration.
More for baking industry
Frith said the baking industry used 20,000 tonnes of seed last year. Two years ago, it only consumed about 8,000 tonnes. And he told the meeting that consumption could still be four times what it is now.
Eggs from chickens fed flax rations are popular with the health-conscious, and Frith said the council is funding research on whether the same nutritional benefits will happen in milk from cows who eat flax.
Len Penner, chair of a council group that develops markets for flax, said consumers have been enthusiastic about using the seed.
For the first time, the council had a display and presentation to the American Association of Cereal Chemists meeting.
The council, with the help of a U.S. consultant, set up face-to-face meetings with heavyweights like Sara Lee in Chicago and General Mills in Minneapolis.
Penner told the council the main concern of bakers is how long ground flax stays fresh. The council is funding chemical and sensory tests to provide clearer information for bakers on the flour’s stability.
