Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Apr 03 2017

FMC Corporation and DuPont Announce Changes

FMC Corporation and DuPont have signed a definitive agreement for FMC to acquire the portion of DuPont’s Crop Protection business it must divest to comply with the European Commission ruling related to its merger with The Dow Chemical Company. Additionally, DuPont will acquire FMC Health and Nutrition and receive $1.2 billion in cash. FMC will acquire DuPont’s global chewing pest insecticide portfolio, its global cereal broadleaf herbicides, and a substantial portion of DuPont’s global crop protection R&D capabilities. After closing of the acquisition, FMC Agricultural Solutions will become the fifth largest crop protection chemical company in the world by revenue, with estimated annual revenue of approximately $3.8 billion. Closing is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2017.

EPA Will Not Ban Chlorpyrifos

The pesticide ingredient chlorpyrifos will not be banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said last week that the agency denied a petition filed by environmental groups to ban the pesticide outright, saying that farmers need chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used pesticides in the world and is the main ingredient in Lorsban, Dow AgroSciences’ organophosphate insecticide targeting pests such as grasshoppers, spider mites, and corn rootworm. Several agriculture groups including NSA had filed public comments expressing concern about the possible ban of chlorpyrifos.

Registration is now open on our website for the 2017 NSA Summer Seminar. This year’s Summer Seminar is the 35^th annual. It will be held June 27-29, 2017 at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn in Rapid City, South Dakota.Click here to register now; prices will increase closer to the event. A block of rooms has been reserved there for June 27-28. To make your reservation click here. Enter your check-in and check-out date. You also need to enter SA1 in the group code box. You can also call the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn at 605-348-4000 and book your room. The block of rooms is listed under National Sunflower Association. Email Tina with any questions.

Syngenta Scholarship Available

Syngenta invites eligible university students to apply for its annual Syngenta Agriculture Scholarship program. Applicants must write an essay about diversity in agriculture and what Syngenta and other industry leaders can do to foster and encourage diversity in agriculture. University students currently pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees in crop-related disciplines are eligible to compete for $20,000 in scholarship awards. Applicants must be U.S. residents enrolled as of spring 2017 in an accredited agriculture program at a U.S. land-grant university. Scholarship deadline is May 26, 2017. For additional information about the scholarship, including official rules, prize amounts, essay topics, and application guidelines, click here.

March/April Issue of The Sunflower Now Online

The March/April issue of The Sunflower is now available to read online. Click here to read it. This is the final issue of the 2016-17 magazine year, but we are always looking for story ideas and planning for next year. If you have a story idea, let us know. Give us a call or fill out this form on our website.

Upcoming Events

June 27-29, 2017 – NSA Summer Seminar, Rapid City, SD
January 10-11, 2018 – NSA Research Forum, Fargo, ND

Markets

The USDA March Planting Intentions report was released on Friday. USDA estimated producers will plant 1.45 million acres to sunflowers in 2017 representing a decrease of 9 percent from 2016. Area intended for oil type varieties, at 1.16 million acres, is down 18 percent from 2016. Area intended for non-oil varieties, was estimated at 295,000, this is up 65 percent from last year. The estimate for oil type varieties was lower than industry expectations and the non-oil figure was higher than industry guesses. Planted area in North Dakota, last year’s leading sunflower producing state, is expected to decline 158,000 acres from 2016. Producers in South Dakota intend to plant 585,000 acres in 2017, an increase of 27,000 acres from last year. This report gives planting intentions, not actual planted acreage. Depending on spring weather and market conditions, producers can still change their final crop mix. If this expected reduction in oil type sunflower does happen it might start to create some unexpected opportunities as we look ahead. Historically when USDA's March intentions report showed acreage below industry expectations, new crop prices firmed up after that and in most cases prices have moved higher as the industry looked to secure seed supplies. Depending on how final planted acres turn out this year it could happen again and diversifying market risk with some sunflower acres could be a good option in 2017.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, April 3, 2017 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2017 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	34.69	32.29	31.42	-.87	32.11
Fargo, ND	NuSun	16.45	NQ	14.90	NC	16.30
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	16.45	14.85	14.85	NC	16.50
Goodland, KS	NuSun	15.95	13.80	13.80	NC	14.95
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	16.95	15.45	15.45	NC	16.95

Prices recorded here are believed to be reliable at the time of posting. All prices are subject to change. Contact these facilities for complete market details.

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Monday, April 3, 2017
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	32.44	29.29	28.42	-.87
Cotton Oil (psby)	49.69	38.29	37.42	-.87
Corn Oil	45.50	42.50	43.00	+.50