Article Archives
NSA 2025 Research Priorities
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
filed under: Research and Development
By John Sandbakken*
With the global population continuously growing, agricultural research helps develop new technologies, crop varieties and farming practices that increase food production. This ensures a stable and sufficient food supply to meet the needs of the population.
Since its founding more than four decades ago, the National Sunflower Association has committed itself to providing funds to public researchers to stimulate new or continue with ongoing sunflower research that leads to disease- and pest-tolerant hybrids, better cropping practices, and ways to reduce production costs. This commitment to research resulted in the development of NuSun® sunflower – and, we would not have Clearfield® or Express® sunflower without it.
• Do your checkoff dollars make a difference?
“You better believe they do,” says Josh Greff, NSA second vice president and Regent, N.D., producer. “Many of the crop protection and pest management tools and production practices used today were the result of NSA-funded research. Research that results in lower production costs, increased quality and higher yields is our primary goal when funding decisions are made.”
• Are research projects funded solely with checkoff dollars?
This research is mainly funded with checkoff funds from Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota and the Dakotas. To increase the pool of financial resources, the sunflower industry also pitches in. The NSA Confection and High Plains committees contribute a portion of their funds to research projects. These committee funds come from sunflower industry members not included in the checkoff.
“I have always considered funding research as the most important thing we can do with our checkoff and industry dollars,” says Tom Kirkmeyer, NSA president and Brighton, Colo., producer. “NSA is always looking for any new innovations and/or products that will make a difference in the bottom line for producers and the sunflower industry.”
• How is research prioritized and projects chosen?
To help prioritize research areas, the NSA has a research committee made up of researchers, industry leaders and sunflower producers representing all major sunflower states. The committee met in early September to set research priorities for the upcoming year. After priorities were set, requests for preproposals were sent to researchers across the country. Having preproposals helps NSA prioritize which proposals move on to the full proposal phase. After full proposals are received, the committee will meet in early January to review the submitted proposals and score them based on scientific merit and cost.
“This system seems to be the best method to evaluate and recommend the top research projects to fund in the most impartial way,” says Robert Weigelt, chairman of the NSA Research Committee. “It allows NSA board members to make informed funding decisions based on the composite score each proposal receives that takes into account scientific merit and cost.”
Resolving Sclerotinia continues to be a high priority. Grant requests for this disease are directed to the National Sclerotinia Initiative. There is a concentrated research effort in this disease, from wild accessions to fungicide trials and everything in between. NSA is a leader in urging researchers to consider additional or new directions in Sclerotinia sunflower research to find a solution for this very important disease.
The list below specifies “areas of interest” outlined by the NSA research committee. This is not an exclusive list, however, and the committee will consider all production areas of research.
Research Areas of Interest
(in order of priority)
Production Issues —
The #1 priority for the National Sunflower Association is improved genetic progress in sunflower to enhance competitiveness with other crops and stability of yield and quality using genomic tools.
Other needs are:
• More local/regional-focused varietal screening, including extension and industry, public and private lines.
• Blackbirds: Innovative and new approaches to reduce damage, especially discovery of repellents and/or changes to plant physical characteristics.
• Early, mid- and later planting date studies are needed to mitigate insects, diseases and crop maturity effects from too early and/or too late planting on a state and/or regional basis.
Insects —
The #1 priority is the red sunflower seed weevil challenges that are inhibiting South Dakota sunflower acreage. The issue is larger than just insecticide resistance and may also include RSSW biology, genetics and seasonal population dispersion. An “All of the Above” approach is needed.
Other needs are:
• Evaluation of IPM strategies (scouting, trapping, thresholds, insecticide testing [especially new mode of actions], cultural, biological) for control of economically important insect pests of sunflower, including red sunflower seed weevil and Dectes stem borer.
Weeds —
The #1 priority is innovative weed control strategies using existing and experimental chemistries to address palmer amaranth, horseweed (marestail), waterhemp and multiple MOA-resistant kochia.
Other needs are:
• Encourage research for new desiccant active ingredients.
• Weed species shifts, due to resistance/tolerance to common modes of action need to be considered for burndown uses, as well as existing post systems like Clearfield® and Express®Sun.
• Define herbicide sunflower-safe pre-emerge intervals, even during a drought. Preservation of and MOA resistance management for the post-emerge Group #1 grass products.
• Group 15 efficacy demonstrations, including improving pigweed, kochia and grass species control, and how layering modes of action used in sunflower can benefit rotation crops such as wheat and corn. Emphasis on timing (late fall versus spring) for layering residual modes of action to lessen over-reliance on spring burndown.
Diseases —
Phomopsis stem canker is the #1 disease priority for the National Sunflower Association. Proposals aimed at studying pathogen biology and improving (or leading to the improvement of) disease management tools.
Other needs are:
• Rust includes identifying races and the control of rust via genetic resistance and fungicide application.
• There is continued interest in downy mildew with the development of new races and fungicide efficacy. Proposals looking at genetic resistance along with seed treatments with multiple modes of action will be of interest.
• Rhizopus can be a concern after the head is damaged by insects, hail or other impacts. Determining whether there are management or mitigating strategies to reduce the impact of the disease is important for growers.
Product Utilization & Environmental Impacts —
The #1 priority for the National Sunflower Association is quantification of sunflower’s carbon footprint and environmental sustainability, including the renewable diesel industry and carbon sequestration impacts.
Other needs are:
• Novel compounds in seed that have intrinsic values, including nutrition alternatives and the use of sunflower as a protein source.
If you would like to hear more about what is happening in sunflower research, consider attending the annual NSA Sunflower Research Forum. The Forum is a popular and well-attended event and will be held next year at the Holiday Inn in Fargo, N.D.
The purpose of the Forum is to report on research, to promote discussion, and to stimulate creative thinking. The 2025 National Sunflower Association Sunflower Research Forum is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, January 8, and conclude at noon on Thursday the 9th. You can use this link to get more details: http://www.sunflowernsa.com/events/details.asp?eventID=198.
If you cannot make it to the Forum you can learn more about NSA-funded research projects by going to this site: http://www.sunflowernsa.com/research/. The site carries an online searchable database of more than 30 years of sunflower research papers.
* John Sandbakken is executive director of the National Sunflower Association.