UNITED Oilseeds will again offer a minimum price contract for linseed in 2011 following a successful 2010 crop.

Linseed is predicted to be an important crop for arable growers with forward values for harvest 2011 currently trading at about £300 per tonne, giving a gross margin of £423 per hectare.

It also offers beneficial agronomic advantages by helping to enhance yields of subsequent wheat crops by cleaning the soil of weeds.

David Whyte, the company’s linseed trader, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer a minimum price contract again for the 2011 harvest, and can also offer growers access to Abacus, an early maturing linseed variety, at a very competitive price.”

He said the main benefit of such a contract is that it allows growers to sow the crop knowing that they have locked into a secure and competitive contract.

“By ensuring that the finished linseed crop is marketed to specific end users, we are able to achieve premium harvest prices for our growers,” he said.

“Linseed is a niche product with a relatively small market.

As such, the United Oilseeds price promise is limited to a specific overall tonnage.

“The area of linseed planted in the UK has increased from 40,000 hectares in 2009, to a predicted 50,000 hectares in 2011.

“Growers who are thinking of including linseed in their spring rotation therefore need to act quickly to secure a buy-back contract and to reserve the necessary volume of seed.”

Richard Elsdon, technical manager at United Oilseeds, said linseed could help reduce blackgrass.

He said: “This allows several germinations of blackgrass to emerge and be controlled by a treatment of glyphosate prior to sowing linseed in the spring.

“The following crop of linseed can also be treated using Avadex 15G which, despite having a relatively old chemical formula, is still effective in sensitising blackgrass and other broadleaved weeds to subsequent herbicide treatments.

“As with other oilseed crops, growers have been using glyphosate to aid the ripening of linseed for some years.

“This dries out the crop prior to harvest, but also removes any lingering broadleaved weeds and cleans the soil to the extent that wheat can be drilled into the lightly cultivated linseed stubble.”

He said the newly-established wheat crop will benefit from weed-free soil and a total break from cereals.