Guy Christensen (at left) was this year’s recipient of the National Sunflower Association Gold Award, presented to an individual who has contributed extraordinarily to the sunflower industry. He is shown here receiving a recognition sunflower painting from Chuck Todd (right), president of NSA.

        Christensen retired recently after more than four decades in the sunflower industry.  He most recently served as account manager for ADM Processing at the company’s Enderlin, N.D., oilseed crushing plant, with which he had been associated since 1983.  During his career, he worked as a buyer for the facility’s original owners, as vice president of marketing for its second owner (National Sun Industries), and, since 1994, multiple roles with the current owner, ADM.

This year’s recipient of the Curt Stern Scholarship was Zach Ittel (left), a Ph.D student in plant pathology at North Dakota State University.  He’s shown here receiving his award from Mark Schramm, strategic account manager at FMC, sponsors of the seminar event.

Nolan Kane is assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He addressed the genetics of sunflower microbial associations, with consequences for disease resistance and other traits.  “Our findings produce specific genomic targets for crop development and scientific research to understand and utilize biotic interactions that contribute to plant health,” he noted, adding that “while sunflower is already a great crop, there are a lot of opportunities for making it even better.”  Also addressing the NSA Summer Seminar was Kane’s UC-Boulder colleague Peter Innes, who spoke on his research into genetic control of phenology and plasticity across several diverse field environments.

Michelle Pietz is technical solutions and marketing manager for ADM Oils, with nearly two decades of experience in the food industry, where she has specialized in oil-based ingredients.  She provided her Summer Seminar audience with a broad overview of high-oleic sunflower oil and its market applications. Among those many uses are in snack foods (e.g., chips, popcorn, nut and seed roasting), bakery (breads, crackers, cereal), dairy alternatives (creamers, cheese sauces, powdered cheese) and more, including industrial uses such as tires and lubricants.

        “Food companies continue to look at alternatives to synthetic additives in formulation,” Pietz noted.  “While natural antioxidants do exist, another option is to use an oil with inherent oxidative stability — like high-oleic sunflower oil.”

        High-oleic sun oil contains an 86% oleic oil level, whereas high-oleic soybean oil has 75% oleic and corn comes in at 74% oleic.

        One of high-oleic sunflower oil’s very attractive traits is its low saturated fat level in comparison to other oils used in a product like potato chips:1.0 gram, compared to cottonseed oil (2.5), corn oil (1.5) and lard (4 grams).

Bill Even, commissioner of the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, delivered an upbeat analysis of how a ‘small’ state on the national scene, such as South Dakota, can compete with the ‘big guys.’  He outlined several of his state’s key industries, such as value-added and precision ag, bioscience, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity — and then spoke to South Dakota’s core strengths: agriculture, tourism and finance/insurance. Even envisioned key areas of growth being in Information/IT and Professional Services and Cybersecurity.  One interesting statistic: South Dakota’s average income is currently $69,000 — fourth highest in the nation.

South Dakota State University entomologist Adam Varenhorst spoke to the 2026 NSA Summer Seminar audience via a Zoom connection.  He focused on the incidence and management of the red sunflower seed weevil  (RSSW) — a major production issue in the state in recent years.

      Varenhorst noted that RSSW populations in South Dakota in 2025 were not as high as in the previous few years due to weather factors; however it was too early to predict the 2026 experience.  Seed weevil infestation and damage was very serious in 2023 and 2024, with some field populations being several hundred times the economic threshold.

        Seed weevil resistance to the pyrethroid class of insecticides, which was first witnessed nearly a decade ago, has played a major role in growers’ being unable to control this insect adequately. “These products should not be used for RSSW management” in South Dakota, Varenhorst cautioned.  If using other insecticides, do so just once per season per field, use the high labeled rate, and rotate active ingredients when possible, he advised.