Eying a $1.5-billion fibre industry
- http://farmcentre.com
That’s the goal of Flax Canada 2015 - a unique initiative now establishing links between researchers, industry, the health-care community and government. The project is developing new lines of business for higher-value flax-based products and processes in four key areas:
- 1. Human health. - 2. Animal nutrition. - 3. Bio-fibre. - 4. Industrial feedstock.
“This is a truly Canadian opportunity,” said Flax Canada 2015 coordinator Kelley Fitzpatrick. “Canada produces the majority of very high quality flax globally. To date, the bulk of the research done on the human health side and animal product development has been done in Canada.
“In terms of value-added products from the health standpoint, this is extremely important work. Governments across this country are concerned with rising health care costs. As the population ages and we become more susceptible to ag-related diseases, this research takes on even greater importance.”
A nutritionist who spent 15 years supporting agricultural bioactives for human health, Fitzpatrick was the founding president of the Saskatchewan Nutraceutical Network, the first such fully funded and fully operational Network in Canada.
“Response from agriculture has been very positive,” she said. “My career in nutrition has been funded by agriculture. We need to deal with flax straw management and give farmers options for using the straw remaining on fields.
“Traditionally it’s either been burned or tilled under, so we’ve missed a lot of very good product development options with flax straw. For those involved in the higher end fibre market, there will be initial costs but those will be “more than recouped” at the end of the day.
“Functional foods and natural health products represent a significant market opportunity, so it’s not simply food but food beyond food,” she said. “Right now simple combining means we’re destroying a lot of potentially useful fibre.
“We are emphasizing what we can do to manage oil seed flax for more value-added products. Eventually a smaller niche area would be fibre-fax - now only in Europe and Asia, where the climate aids the natural destruction of the outer straw so the fibre is easier to harvest during processing.”
Linen production - another valuable niche market for smaller groups of farmers - could translate into about 10,000-25,000 acres for higher end fibre.
