Why grow hemp, when there's flax?
Flax as a rotational crop in North America is on the upswing. It can be grown for both fibre and seed, and farming implements required to harvest the crop are readily available and well understood by North American farmers. Much like industrial hemp, flax's versatility make for countless commercial possibilities, including: clothing, food (as an oil), feedstock, and paper. Somwhat delicate, prone to lodging and physically short, harvesting and processing flax has it's share of complications.
Canada leads global flax production while India, China, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Argentina are notable players in the international flax trade.
In 2001, the United States produced 11.5 million bushels of flax on 585,000 acres. North Dakota is the biggest U.S. producer with 327,000 acres of flax that yielded 6.8 million bushels annually, while in 2000 Minnesota had about 10,000 acres of flaxseed, yielding 198,000 bushels. The United States imports about 1.9 million and exports about 2.4 million bushels of flax annually. (Source)
Like hemp, flax is touted as an excellent rotational crop with similar commercial uses. Given the similarities, the question is why American farmers have not embraced flax more widely. Is the market limited?
More flax discussion to come on HemperFi...in the meantime, here are some useful links (and many more here).
- Fiber Flax Farming Practices in the Southeastern United States
- Flax: Alternative Field Crops Manual. Prepared by the University of Wisconsin and University of Minnesota
- Flax Crop Production - by the Flax Council of Canada