(Dave Bedard photo)

Flax production lowest since 1967, StatCan predicts

Returns on effort invested 'not attractive right now'

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — After going into its least acres seeded since 1950, the 2023-24 Canadian flax crop is projected to be at its smallest in decades. Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported in its principal field crop estimates on Thursday that 267,900 tonnes of flaxseed are expected to be produced in this year’s harvest. The total not only […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Flax production to drop with fewer acres, dry conditions

'Prices are definitely going to be climbing'

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — As with other crops on the Canadian Prairies, flax has been struggling with the hot and dry conditions across the region. That said, Scott Shiels of Grain Millers Canada at Yorkton, Sask. noted there’s very little doubt when it comes to flax prices increasing during the course of 2023. Presently, old-crop flax was […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Latest StatCan stocks report ‘least important of them all’

Wheat, canola numbers not expected to have significant impact on markets

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — For MarketsFarm Pro analyst Mike Jubinville, there was little in the latest Statistics Canada (StatCan) grain stocks report that would budge the markets. “When I look at the run of StatCan reports that we get through the year, whether they’re acreage, production or ending stocks, this report in May is the least important […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Canada’s expected flax area smallest since 1950

Other commodity prices outperforming flax

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Blue flowery fields of flax will be fewer and farther between in Western Canada, according to Statistics Canada’s (StatCan) first survey-based seeding intentions report for 2023-24. In a report released late last month, StatCan projected only 689,000 acres of flaxseed to be planted this spring, an 11.6 per cent decrease from the year […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

AAFC revises crop estimates

Export, new-crop production outlooks revised lower for flax

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on Friday released its February supply and demand estimates with numerous small changes. AAFC held its projections for 2022-23 grains and oilseeds production at 89.489 million tonnes. As for exports, the department reduced them from 45.715 million tonnes last month to now 45.49 million. Furthermore, domestic usage was […] Read more

File photo of a flax field in Russia. (Ukususha/iStock/Getty Images)

Price drop not enough to lift demand for Canadian flax

Russia, Kazakhstan competitive in export markets

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — While flax prices in Western Canada have fallen by at least half from what they were one year ago, they are still too high to be competitive on a global level, according to one flax processor. Mike Popowich, owner and vice-president of TA Foods Ltd. at Yorkton, Sask., said demand for the crop […] Read more


While flax yields lag those of other crops, boosting them might not help in a market with limited demand.

Saskatchewan is now flax central

SaskFlax and the Flax Council have joined to provide agronomic support and address issues such as market access

Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s been getting tougher for photographers to capture that iconic shot of adjoining fields of blooming flax and canola. There’s no shortage of yellow flowers, but Prairie flax area, recently averaging about 900,000 acres, is less than half of its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. Last year’s area dropped even further to 775,000 acres, […] Read more

(Flax Council of Canada photo)

Flax Council of Canada seeks new chief

Wayne Thompson moving to WGRF

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s national market development organization for flax and flax products is officially in the market for a chief executive. The Flax Council of Canada said Tuesday its search for a new president is underway, after Wayne Thompson announced in August he has left the position to become executive director of the Western Grains Research Foundation […] Read more


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SaskCanola, SaskFlax merge offices, management

Groups will maintain separate governing boards, levies

Reading Time: 2 minutes Sasskatchewan’s canola and flax development commissions are consolidating their management, staff and office space under one roof. SaskCanola and SaskFlax said Wednesday their new “management collaboration” will translate to efficiencies for both commissions with “a full staff complement to support both boards.” Both organizations will now operate out of the current SaskCanola office at Innovation […] Read more

Photo: File

Plenty of upside for falling flax prices

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm – One of the most expensive crops grown in the Prairies is losing some of its value. While flaxseed prices in Western Canada are still at or above those from last year, they have come down by at least 15 per cent since last month. The high-delivered bid for flax in Saskatchewan is C$28 […] Read more