Regardless of the crops being no-tilled, Rick Heintzman will absolutely astound attendees at January’s 10^th annual National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis, Mo. While the Onaka, S.D. no-tiller concentrates on adding value to flaxseed, the same production, processing and marketing techniques can be used with any no-tilled crop.

Fantastic Returns. Quite honestly, we’re almost afraid to run the figures on Heintzman’s value added flaxseed shown at the bottom left in "No-Till-Age." The value-added returns from a 714-bushel semi-load of flaxseed seems so overwhelming that we wondered whether you’d actually believe them.

One of no-till’s most successful entrepreneurs, Heintzman no-tills corn, soybeans, wheat, sunflowers and raises 2,000 acres of a golden-seeded flax variety called Omega that offers many health benefits.

Golden Returns. The flaxseed is direct marketed under his own trademarked label – Dakota Flax Gold – to people on his 100,000 plus name mailing list. In addition, wholesale orders come from about 300 medical clinics, hospitals and health-food stores across the country.

Instead of selling flax for $3, Heintzman earns $168 to $1,120 a bushel with 1-pound and 25-gram packages used on cereal, added to juices, baked in bread and for other nutritional uses. Returns per bushel run even higher for flaxseed nutrition bars and health supplement capsules.

With a gross farm income now measured in the millions, these sales reflect the customers’ willingness to pay big premiums for name-brand or designer-type products, especially those with perceived health benefits. Yet getting to that point took plenty of forward thinking and an investment of $1.6 million in medical research regarding the benefits of flaxseed in treating cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The Flaxseed Revolution. After trying 400 acres of Omega flax, Heinzman advertised it as a generic product and later followed up with a private food label from the Food and Drug Administration. He soon came up with an ingenious way to create demand for his private labeled bags of flaxseed by offering in-home cholesterol testing kits. The rest is history as he developed an extensive marketing program among consumers and the medical community for the flaxseed health supplements.

The flax is planted with a 42-foot John Deere 1850 no-till air seeder, swathed with a 42-foot header and two rows representing a 78-foot width are combined in a single pass. He also uses a revolutionary way of applying anhydrous ammonia with the 42-foot wide no-till air seeder that converts ammonia from a gas to a liquid.

By creating value-added opportunities, Heintzman is able to define his own farming future. Direct marketing a consumer-ready product lets him set his own price and create a market unique to him. He maintains that you can do the same with any of the crops that you no-till.

Get Solid Answers. As you look for new ways for expanding your no-till income with value-added opportunities, hearing what Heintzman has to say in St. Louis will more than pay all of your expenses for attending this January’s National No-Tillage Conference. Regardless of the crops you no-till, he’ll have solid ideas to help you boost returns with value-added marketing. See you soon in St. Louis!