Van de Bilt

Flax varieties and seed, flax fibre trading

Van de Bilt zaden en vlas is a Dutch family company from Sluiskil, specialising in flax seed and fibre. It runs its own breeding of fibre flax varieties, with genetics selected for straw yield, fibre content and fibre yield, as well as agronomic traits (earliness, lodging resistance, resistance to fusarium and rust). The offer closes the whole chain: from sowing seed (fibre and oilseed flax, cereals), through contract growing, to fibre trading (long, short, hackled ribbon, shives, seed), with a separate organic line. Van de Bilt is the start and end of the flax chain, complementary to harvesting machinery (Union) and processing (Cretes, Vanhauwaert).

Flax is a chain: from seed, through harvest and scutching, to industrial fibre.

Van de Bilt (genetics and seed) → UNION (harvest) → CRETES (scutching) → Vanhauwaert (fibre processing). Each machine serves one link of the same process.

Sluiskil, Holandia

Van de Bilt zaden en vlas B.V. (the Van de Bilt–Wiersum network) is a Dutch family company based in Sluiskil, founded in 1897 by Albert van de Bilt — initially as a seed trade and winter processing of flax, with seed purchased among others in the Baltic states. The company was developed by his son Charles, and since the 1960s it has been run by his grandsons. Today Van de Bilt breeds flax varieties (VG profiles — excellent fibre percentage, V — high fibre yield potential, B — rust resistance), supplies sowing seed, organises contract cultivation and trades in fibre and flax products. The company holds the title Hofleverancier (Supplier to the Royal Court of the Netherlands) and the European Flax certificate. In Poland, the cooperation is conducted by RUTHENIA ALBA.