Comparable flax yields show organic methods work

Flax Focus
Volume 13, Issue 2
Flax Council of Canada

Customers around the world are looking for organic grains and oilseeds more often, according to industry sources. This has lead to strong growth in the organic industry.

Current University of Manitoba research shows yields from flax crops grown with, or without, herbicides or fertilizers can be equal to those grown with full inputs.

The study by Dr. Martin Entz of the Department of Plant Science, shows flax grown in 1999, without herbicides and fertilizers in the fourth year of a wheat-alfalfa-alfalfa-flax rotation, yielded 21.9 bu./ac. This equalled that of the flax grown in the same year in a rotation with full fertilizer and herbicide applications.

The eight-year study compares the performance of conventional, low-input, and organic crop production systems. The rotations include a flax test crop every four years on 2-acre plots at Glenlea, Manitoba. Flax yields for 1995 and 1999 in the three main rotations are shown in the table which follows.

Table. Flax yield (bu/acre) as influenced by crop rotation, with varying fertilizer and herbicide inputs.
Glenlea Long-term	+fert	+fert	-fert	fert
Rotation Study	+herb	-herb	+herb	-herb
Crop Rotation	Full inputs	Low input	Low input	Organic system
	1995	1995	1995	1995
	1999	1999	1999	1999
Wheat-pea-wheat-flax	29.9	15.5	20.9	15.2
	21.9	9.5	16.7	9.6
Wheat-sweetclover greenmanure-wheat-flax	28.8	19.6	17.6	16.2
	29.1	17.5	25.2	15.8
Wheat-alfalfa-alfalfa-flax	27.2	24.6	20.5	21.8
	23.1	15.9	24.4	21.9

(CAPTION: In 1999, the yield of flax after alfalfa in the organic system was identical to the yield of flax in the annual rotation with full inputs (as shown in bold figures above).)

Other results show:

In the full input system, rotations containing a sweetclover green manure year produced the highest grain yields in 1999; however, no differences among rotations were observed in 1995.

In both low-input systems, flax yields were lowest in the annual crop rotation vs the sweetclover and alfalfa-containing rotations. v In both low-input systems, the alfalfa-containing rotation performed better than the sweetclover-containing rotation in 1995, but few differences were observed between these two rotations in 1999.

Under organic production conditions, flax in the alfalfa-containing rotation had the highest grain yield, followed by flax in the sweetclover rotation, followed by flax in the annual crop rotation.

Flax is an important organic crop. Information from this study shows that yields of organic flax can be greatly improved by including soil-building crops such as alfalfa and sweetclover in your rotation. Thus, you can reduce inputs, without sacrificing yields. For those of you with an integrated cattle-grain operation, the lessons here may be very useful.

Markets for organic flax

Organic crops are produced without the use of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Rotation is offered as the alternative.

Organically-grown flax warrants a premium in the marketplace. The price for organic flax currently ranges from $14.50 to $18.50/ bu., depending on its quality, and whether it is cleaned or uncleaned.

In the University of Manitoba study, the organic systems had the lowest cost of production and the highest net returns over the eight-year period, in both the annual grain and the alfalfa-based rotations.

The demand for organic flax is increasing, with sales requests in some companies doubling previous levels.

** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed for research and educational purposes only. **