Saskatchewan flax producers will vote on a proposed levy increase on March 19th at a meeting in Regina.

The proposal calls for a doubling of the current $1.18 a metric tonne producer levy on flaxseed to $2.36 a tonne. That also works out to six cents a bushel. The 50 cent a tonne levy on flax straw will remain unchanged.

Sask Flax Executive Director Linda Braun says the higher levy is needed to compensate for a significant acreage decline. Excessive moisture in the prime growing regions of southeast and east-central Saskatchewan over the past two years has reduced flax production to its lowest level in a decade. The industry is also dealing with the continuing fallout from the detection of CDC Triffid in shipments to Europe in 2009. The European Union, with its zero tolerance policy for the import of genetically modified products, has reduced its Canadian flax imports by 35 per cent.

Braun says the additional money from a higher levy will be used to fund research and market development. There are opportunities for flax in the global food market and new varieties are being developed to grow in the northern Prairies.

The levy has not changed since SaskFlax was established in 1996. If it is approved, the new levy would go into effect at the start of the new crop year on August 1.

The Regina meeting will be held in the Travelodge Hotel on March 19. It starts at noon with registration, following by the meeting at 1pm.