Old crop has new converts
Low production costs have linen manufacturers lining up eastern Ontario producersBY ROBERT IRWIN
Flax is back in eastern Ontario after a 50-year hiatus. Robert McDonald, North Lancaster, who this year is growing 65 acres with his son Rob, recalls the crop once rivaled corn's current popularity with area farmers.Flax mills producing linen - once part of the Glengarry county landscape - were driven out of business almost a generation ago by competition from synthetic fibres. However, the good times may roll again as an apparent long-term increase in demand for linen could allow farmers in 2,500 corn heat unit (CHU) areas to gross around $450 per acre with little risk and few inputs.
The McDonalds are no strangers to innovation. Following graduation from Kemptville College in 1965, Robert became one of eastern Ontario's earliest soybean growers the following year.
This year he and Rob, both veteran dairymen, are among five eastern Ontario flax growers producing some 200 acres under contract for Gilflax, in nearby Valleyfield, Que. The company also has contracts with several Quebec growers, creating a combined production total of about 1,000 acres.
"It's better than hemp, because the market is assured," says Rob.
Two years ago Gilflax, owned by multinational Gilbert Holdings, spent $3.5 million to build Canada's only scutching mill and import specialized planting and harvesting equipment. General manager Eric Laugier estimates production costs in Canada are 20 per cent lower than in France and Belgium, key production areas where the company has been buying the equivalent of about 80,000 acres of flax.
He says land costs in those countries are around $10,000 to $15,000 per hectare; labour for processing is cheaper in Canada, too. "Basically the major savings are because growers here are satisfied with a lower revenue than farmers in France and Belgium," says Laugier.
The McDonalds have decided that the crop, which can't be grown continuously because of a flax-specific fusarium mold, will be a good fit with their corn, soybean, small grain rotation. In Europe recommended rotation is six years.
"We believe that in Canada - because it's virgin soil - four years will work," says Laugier, who plans to double contracted acreage next year.
The McDonalds say the root system, which runs as deep as the plant's three-foot height, is bound to improve soil tilth. "We all have compaction problems - that's a big plus for the crop," Robert notes.
Laugier concurs: "Usually a cereal crop grown after flax is very good."
When flax follows soybeans in a rotation it probably won't require any fertilizer. In fact, added nitrogen or high levels of organic material could cause lodging, making it impossible for company-owned pullers to harvest the crop.
McDonald says flax shouldn't follow corn, because trash is likely to interfere with the seedbed preparation required.
He and Rob cultivated three times and then rolled the field before and after seeding. They were able to plant about four acres per hour with the imported 12-foot planter supplied by Gilflax.
"It takes a good tractor to lift it," Rob says of the three-point hitch machine. Following Laugier's instructions strictly, they placed seeds inch deep in rows 2 G inches apart. "There isn't a lot of room for variation," Rob notes.
Imported European seed is supplied by Gilflax at a cost of $1.66 per kg. That cost is deducted from the payment issued to growers by the company following harvest. Seeding rate is 115 lbs. per acre.
The McDonalds' seed cost was $73 per acre. Francis Chretien, Summerstown, another Glengarry county grower, estimates his seed costs at $89 per acre.
The other cost borne by growers is herbicide and its application. Good weed control makes harvesting easier and promotes growth of long fibres.
Gilflax pays producers $150 per tonne and then adds bonuses of five dollars per tonne for each percentage point of long fibres harvested above 12 per cent. The bonus for more than 17 percent is $10 per point. The company's contract specifies broadleafs are to be controlled with Buctril M at one litre per hectare. Select with Amigo adjuvant is used at 0.19 liter per hectare for grasses. In total, weed control costs around $30 per acre.
Gilflax specifies May 25 as a final planting date in this 2,750 CHU area. Says Laugier, "2,500 CHU or a little less is ideal, and 3,000 may be too much."
Cooler temperatures allow plants to grow slower and produce better quality fibres.
This year McDonald planted on Mother's Day, May 10. The crop - with an estimated yield of two to three tonnes - was ready to be uprooted by one of Gilflax's five $160,000 self-propelled pullers late August. The machines extract about an inch of root and leave the plant in windrows to be turned later by one of Gilflax's seven $45,000 self-propelled turners before being put through one of the company's $100,000 self-propelled large round balers.
Four-by-four bales are then trucked to the Valleyfield scutching plant, where it is processed and then shipped to Asian countries to be made into linen.
Low loonie helps linen
The low value of the Canadian dollar is good news for the fledgling flax fibre industry, but Gilbert Holdings - which owns Gilfax - is experiencing cash-flow problems.Eric Laugier - Gilflax's sincere, soft-spoken general manager from France - says Asian backers have backed off but Gilbert's Canadian business won't be curtailed.
Laugier - who has 11 years' experience in flax production - says Gilbert Holdings, which last year had profits of $285 million, could speed up expansion plans if the loonie remains low and if growers can deliver enough quality flax. Eventual plans are to manufacture linen in Canada for domestic use and for export to the United States.
Gilbert currently supplies such well- known manufacturers as Calvin Klein, Eddie Bauer, Armani and Gap. The company owns part of Harbin Linen Mill in China, which produces 22 million square metres of linen cloth and 1,000 tonnes of linen yarn.
Gilflax employs 20 people and will process about 1,000 acres of flax this year. It plans to double eastern Ontario's acreage next year, bringing production in the province to 400-plus acres.
Total production at the Valleyfield plant during the next two years is scheduled to triple from current throughput of 1,000 acres.
Canada already produces more than 860,000 tonnes of flax seed - also known as linseed - for oil, or about 40 per cent of the world's supply. Flax for fibre requires different growing conditions, making it unlikely Ontario will unseat France and Belgium the prima donnas of the linen market.
Laugier says areas like Normandy with a long growing season and 2,500 CHUs are ideal for long fibre production. Still, subsidies and land costs in Europe mean Canadian farmers are more willing to produce, according to Laugier.
"If you would give the same amount of money to farmers in France
or
Belgium they wouldn't grow it anymore, because they can't cope
with their
costs."
back
Letters
To Farm & Country
Pot shot
Further to "Crop busting in full swing" (July 20): More than six
million
Canadians have smoked or do smoke marijuana. According to Health
and
Welfare Canada, the majority are not young people. The Addiction
Research
Foundation, the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian
Medical
Association are all in favour of legalization.
Can it be that our heavily armed and privacy-invading people in
blue are
more astute than these people? Maybe we can't expect the police
to tell the
truth - not when their own jobs involving scenic flights and
lovely walks
through the woods would be put at risk. The World Health
Organization
recently said cannabis was less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.
Lying to
children and young people about marijuana is a dangerous and
disturbing
message. When kids find out the truth some day, they won't trust
anything
certain people might say about truly harmful substances.
Chasing and jailing people for cultivating cannabis has become an
expensive and losing game. Any law enforcement official who is
honest will
agree: This American-based war on drugs - 80 per cent of which is
focused
marijuana - is turning neighbour against neighbour. It's time to
end this
scare-mongering.
Ron Enns
Auburn
Beef beef
"U.S. to brand Canadian beef" (Aug. 17) was interesting and
demonstrates
how the American government can change the rules to favour U.S.
producers.
However, I can offer the following suggestions to the Canadian
Cattlemen's
Association.
If this is a change in policy Canadian beef producers cannot
overturn,
their only choice is to use the shift to their advantage. As an
exporter of
Canadian pheasant, I know that brand recognition can be used in
your favour
if you have a superior product. In fact, you can get a premium
price. Look
at what New Zealand has done with excellent dairy and lamb
marketing in a
tough marketplace. Perhaps Canadian cattle producers should
follow a
similar marketing plan, provided product quality warrants such a
program.
Also, as a consumer, I am concerned about U.S. chicken and beef
(live or
processed) entering Canada without country-of-origin labelling. I
would
prefer to buy Canadian, as would most Canadians, if given the
choice.
Unfortunately, live animals slaughtered in Canada - even though
they were
grown in the U.S. - can have a Product of Canada label.
I think it is time we enact a similar labelling policy on
American
products should they decide to brand Canadian beef.
Kenneth W. Hook
Flinton
Getting along
I would like to express my happiness after reading "Downtown
dairying"
(Aug. 3). I envy everyone in that community - especially the city
folks.
I wish only that all country folks could read Bernard Tobin's
article.
Perhaps it would educate the country folks around here that folks
from the
city are not all evil and bad. (I'm originally from London, but
my husband
has lived on his father's father's land all his life).
Maureen Hewitt
Listowel
back