Prized for its oil and its omega-rich seed, flax has staged a quiet comeback across the plains, its brief blue bloom once again dotting the northern fields.
Flax is among the oldest cultivated plants known to agriculture, and it has grown on the northern plains since the earliest homestead days, pressed for the linseed oil that once finished every barn door and wagon box. In recent years the crop has found new favor, driven by demand for its omega-three-rich seed on the health-conscious table.
An Ancient Seed for a Modern Table
The flax field announces itself for only a short while — a haze of small blue flowers that open in the morning and drop their petals by afternoon, so that a grower may miss the bloom entirely if the week is busy. North Dakota grows the large majority of the nation's flaxseed, a quiet monopoly on a crop most Americans never think about.
From the almanac's reckoning:
- North Dakota grows the large majority of the nation's flaxseed.
- Flax flowers open in the morning and shed their petals by afternoon.
- Demand for omega-three-rich seed has revived interest in the crop.
Cool and hardy, flax suits the northern counties and slots neatly into a small-grain rotation. The almanac welcomes its return, and counsels the traveler to watch the roadsides in early summer for that brief and startling blue.
Elsewhere in the Almanac
Reading the Sky: Drought, Irrigation and the Missouri's Water
In a state where most crops drink only what the clouds provide, the recurring specter of drought keeps every grower's eye on the rain gauge — and turns some toward the water of the Missouri.
Passing the Land On: The Delicate Art of Farm Succession
As a generation of plains farmers reaches its later years, families across the state wrestle with the hardest harvest of all — handing the farm to the next hands, or letting it go.
The Country Elevator: Still the Heart of the Grain Town
Beside the rail line in a hundred plains towns, the grain elevator stands as it has for a century — weighing the harvest, holding it, and shipping it to the wider world.