Cultivation of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) in Polish rural areas

Abstract

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a species of crop plants with special properties and great utility from antiquity to the present. The purpose of the work is to present its cultivation in the Polish countryside in historical terms, as well as in terms of the current need to create natural and socio-economic conditions for sustainable development with its participation. The analysis of available materials indicates that the largest areas of flax growing occurred in Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries, when it competed with cotton as a raw material for the production of textile products. In the interwar period in Poland, the textile industry for processing linen was well developed. Large quantities of high-quality linseed oil were also produced. In the 1990s, the production of flax decreased in favor of the oilseed crop area. Action should now be taken to renew the cultivation of this valuable plant.