Jonathan Hodgson isn’t averse to growing niche crops at Great Newsome Farm in East Yorkshire, and for the past three years his cropping mix has included a fibre crop that was once more commonly grown in the UK.

Comprising 285ha of arable land, the rotation at South Frodingham includes winter wheat, malting barley, vining peas, winter beans and oats, and the more unusual crop flax. 

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© Supplied by Jonathan Hodgson

“We’re not a big farm, so we try to explore avenues which offer something niche and add value,” explains Jonathan.

“I have a friend who runs East Yorkshire Hemp; we were discussing how I used to grow linseed, and always used to get a good crop of wheat following it.

“Once I knew this was down to the rooting structure and interaction with the soil microbes, I wanted to get linseed back into the rotation.

“He asked if I would like to try growing some flax as he had a market for it, so that’s how it started.”

At that time, there was no flax seed grown in the UK, so it had to be imported, which took nearly two years.

Three years’ experience

Jonathan has been growing flax for three years now, and through trial and error he has begun to perfect his growing methods.

“Our first crop was a disaster,” he says.

“We planted it, then there wasn’t much rain, and flax flea beetle was an issue. We got 1t/ha of fibre – when a good crop is usually 5-7t/ha. So it wasn’t particularly profitable, but I decided to give it a second go.”

Learning from his mistakes, Jonathan increased the seed rate and successfully established the crop, yielding a more profitable 5.3t/ha of fibre.

“As a result, we doubled the hectarage for the following year, and I will double it again for 2025 – making it 50ha.”

In the meantime, Elsoms was trying to find a flax seed grower in the UK.

“The seed is very expensive – around £3/kg – so we started growing some for seed too,” says Jonathan.

“And the fibre we sell to East Yorkshire Hemp – to go into mattresses – so we’re able to get two bites of the cherry for an unusual crop.

“Due to these revenue streams, it’s turned out to be the most profitable break crop for harvest 2024 – the seed is the more profitable of the two, but does involve more work with harvesting and storage.”

Harvesting flax

Harvesting flax can be challenging. “The first year we mowed it, tedded it, left it to dry and to ret [break down]. Rain helps to break down the stalks before baling,” says Jonathan.

“The second year we got a flax pulling machine over from Holland. If you pull it – as opposed to mowing it – you get an extra 10-20% yield, because you’re pulling everything out of the ground,” he explains.

“This year we were going to get a puller and de-bulber, which pulls it and chops off the bulbs (seed heads) at the same time – but that didn’t work out.”

He had to come up with plan B. “I found someone on the Wolds with a stripper header, so we stripped the seed bulbs off the flax, which worked okay. Then we managed to find a puller in Kent, so pulled the rest,” he says.

“The trouble with the UK is that the flax industry is gone, and with it the specialist equipment.”

As hoped, the flax has brought benefits to a following crop of wheat.

“It’s in the same family as linseed, so the seed-bed is good, the soils are improving, and we’ve had a good crop of wheat – hitting our 10t/ha average.”

Flax being planted with a Claydon drill © Jonathan Hodgson

Costs of growing flax

The cost of the seed aside, Jonathan says it is a reasonably cheap crop to grow.

“I drill straight into a destroyed cover crop with a Claydon drill. And I put on 40-60kg/ha of nitrogen in total and a pre-emergence herbicide, but not a post-emergence herbicide because it can stunt the crop.

“We experienced flax flea beetle in the first year, but in the subsequent years, it hasn’t been so bad.”

He applies nitrogen a little at a time with some molasses, to feed the soil as well as the plant, and uses gypsum instead of lime, to balance the sulphur and magnesium in the soil.

“I think we have a handle on growing the crop now,” he explains.

“I think the secret is to try and get the crop in the ground in late March, then pull it in mid-July, give it four to five weeks to ret on the ground, then bale it in September.

“It needs to be under 15% moisture for baling – we use a local contractor, who bales it into big square bales.

“We have learnt to not put too much flax into a row, as it becomes sort of like a rope and it breaks the baler shear bolts, so we made the swath smaller this year and it was fine.”

Jonathan has adopted various regenerative practices across the farm and has plans to experiment with flax as a companion crop.

“I  saw someone growing linseed with oats, as a deterrent to flea beetle, so I’m going to plant oats with the flax next year.”