A Review of Fibre Flax Harvesting: Conditions, Technologies, Processes and Machines

Fibre flax is a waste-free crop because a wide range of products is produced from flax raw materials (flax fiber, seeds) and its waste (flax shive). During flax harvesting, it is important to preserve the flax yield without losing and deteriorating quality properties. Fibre flax harvesting technology depends on different factors, such as the method of flax retting, the method of flax straw primary processing, the requirements for flax raw materials, and the weather conditions. Fibre flax pulling and flax band forming are important processes of traditional flax harvesting technologies, which have a strong influence on subsequent technological processes. Morphological characteristics, physical and mechanical properties, and technological parameters of fiber flax, and soil and weather conditions during harvesting have significantly affected flax pulling and technological parameters of the flax band. Knowledge of flax characteristics, properties and parameters, and harvesting technologies allows us to obtain flax raw materials with high-quality properties and reduce flax yield losses.