Less flax straw burned as local demand grows

The once-common practice of burning unwanted flax straw is happening less frequently in farm fields across Western Canada, according to sources in the industry.

Prairie flax producers still don’t have reliable access to “one or two major buyers of flax straw,” said Wayne Thompson, executive director at SaskFlax.

But local demand for flax straw is growing, particularly among dairy operators and livestock producers, who consider it an inexpensive alternative to cereal straw.

“Burning is not as common of a practice (as it used to be) for managing flax straw,” Thompson said in an email.

“Flax growers are working to sell their flax locally for livestock bedding or other uses. And as combines increase in horsepower and the choppers are better, flax growers are finding the flax straw can be chopped and spread on the field.”

Ruben Dyck, a dairy operator from Hague, Sask., said he has been using flax straw as bedding for nearly a decade.