FEATURE
Linseed quietly carves out its niche The vast patchwork quilt of the Canterbury Plains has long been associated with being the grain growing hub of New Zealand, producing quality crop and seed for the domestic and world markets. Its latitude ensures a year round temperate climate, while the rich soils and accessibility to water is a recipe for successful cropping envied by many outside the region. BY ANITA BODY There are a growing number of crops which come in and out of favour due to popularity and market trends, and they often come with high input both in time and money, and with potentially high risks. By comparison, there are also a few quiet achievers which have steadily carved out their own niche markets. One such crop is linseed seed, which is harvested for flax seed oil. The ideal growing conditions within the Canterbury Plains make this region’s flax seed oil one of the richest sources of Omega 3 in the world. Typically these crops will return a product with around 60% Omega 3, an Essential Fatty Acid which has a myriad of health benefits including anti-inflammatory properties. Canterbury grown flax seed oil in particular is prized as being of the highest quality. Following harvest of linseed crops, the oil is extracted from the seed and is used for both human and animal consumption. This can take the form of pure liquid, capsules for the health market, infused oils for the gourmet food sector and animal feed supplements. 40
RE AL FARM E R
Popularity of the oil is growing as it is a richer source of Omega 3 than fish oils, and is especially appealing to vegetarians and vegans, which make up a large percentage of the world’s population. This is a far cry from the linseed products many will remember from decades past. In days gone by, linseed oil was used in oil based paints but this end product bears no resemblance to the high quality food source produced today. It’s the quality of the seed and production methods which make all the difference. Oils produced for human and animal consumption are extracted from quality linseed, often by cold pressing, while boiling was the method employed to create a thick animal feed, and low quality oil was used for industrial oil and paints. Often flax seed and linseed are seen as two different products when in fact they are the onein-the-same. This is especially true in New Zealand where many incorrectly assume flax seed oil is derived from our native flax plants. Overseas the linseed plant (linum usitatissimum) is known as flax, hence the flax seed name.
As with much of the country’s agricultural produce, scale limits the quantity of flax seed oil being produced for overseas markets, but that’s not stopping local businesses from ensuring New Zealand makes the best quality oil possible. One such producer is Bio Oils, which has almost 30 years of experience in the flax seed market and is now the country’s largest producer of cold pressed New Zealand grown flax seed oil and flax seed meal. The family owned and operated business is based in Ashburton and was originally established in 1987 by a group of seven farmers who had been growing linseed seed for several years, and were interested in the health benefits of flax seed oil and its high Omega 3 content. One of the founding members was Gavin Prebble, and today his son Daryl, along with his wife Debbie, now own and operate the business. Along with the ideal growing conditions the region offers, Daryl said having non-genetically modified crops is also very important to consumers and the GM free status is a big plus.