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Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Aug 03 2020

Crop Progress

Sunflower bloom is well ahead of last year in North Dakota, where more than half the crop is reported to be blooming this week. Meanwhile, harvest continues in Texas.

Crop Progress - Monday, August 3, 2020 State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average North Dakota         Blooming 54 21 31 54 Texas         Harvested 35 28 32 20

Crop Conditions - Monday, August 3, 2020 State Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent North Dakota 1 4 19 65 11 Minnesota 2 4 19 68 7 Colorado 5 31 51 13 0

USDA ARS seeking research leader

The USDA-ARS Sunflower and Plant Biology Research Unit located in Fargo, ND is seeking a full-time, permanent Supervisory Research Plant Physiologist, Research Geneticist, or Research Chemist to serve in a leadership role as a Research Leader for the Unit, responsible for all fiscal, personnel, facilities, and programmatic aspects of the Unit. The primary mission of the Unit is to develop knowledge and technology for sunflower and canola production that benefits oilseed industries and provides value-added ecosystem services through research on biochemistry, physiology, genetics, genomics, pathology, and end-use quality. Click here to learn more about the position. Applications will be accepted through August 10.

Scout for grasshoppers

Be vigilant on scouting for grasshoppers. Adult grasshoppers are becoming more common and can do more damage quickly to maturing field crops. As small grains are harvested, grasshoppers will start moving around more to find ‘greener’ field crops to feed in. NDSU IPM Scouts detected increasing numbers in central and south-central areas of North Dakota last week. Action Threshold for Adult Grasshoppers: 21-40 per square yard in field margins or 8-14 per square yard in the field.

Examine crop for rust

Rust is most often found on the lower under-side of leaves. The pustules are cinnamon-red and readily recognizable. Yield loss can occur and control measures should be considered when rust reaches approximately 1% severity on the upper four leaves and the plant is in the vegetative stages until it reaches the R6 stage. An infestation on the upper leaves at R6 or later will not likely have a negative yield affect. Fortunately, rust can be managed with well-timed fungicide applications. Click here to learn more about rust.

Start scouting for banded sunflower moth and red sunflower weevil

As sunflower fields begin to bloom, adults of red sunflower seed weevil (RSSW) will be emerging and will fly to the nearest flowering sunflowers. RRSW are small (2.5 to 3.1 mm long) with a snout and are reddish-orange. Banded sunflower moth can be identified by their small size (1/4 inch long) and forewings with a triangular, dark brown band across the middle of the wing. Once the decision to treat has been made, it is critical to time the spray application correctly to get effective management of all sunflower head insects, including RRSW, SSM, sunflower moth and Lygus bug. The best sunflower plant stage to treat is when the majority of plants are in the R5.1 growth stge. Click here to read more about scouting for insects and the best treatments. To see the insecticides registered in sunflower, click here.

Upcoming events

August 20, 2020 NSA High Plains Committee Meeting Goodland, KS   January 13-14, 2021 NSA Research Forum Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND

Markets

South Dakota birdfood prices continued their upward movement this week gaining an additional $1.50 per cwt. at some locations with others unchanged. Birdfood bids are trading at $28.00-$30.00 in South Dakota. Birdfood prices are trading for as much as $22.50 in some North Dakota locations. It is a different story at the crush plants as the old crop price premium evaporated and prices transitioned to new crop levels this week. There is very little old crop seed left to trade and the recent surge in birdfood prices reflects this. The U.S. dollar has dropped to its lowest level in almost two years against a basket of major currencies. This is positive news for exports making U.S. agriculture products more competitive on the world market. According to currency traders, the dollar is likely to weaken further following last week’s FOMC meeting even if the Federal Reserve holds current policy. Commodity traders are starting to get into position for USDA’s August crop reports. August 12th will be a huge day for commodity markets as USDA will release its latest supply and demand reports and first report of FSA certified acres. The FSA figures will be compared to the USDA June acreage report and will give the market a better idea of what got planted this year. This data and weather conditions will guide traders in the coming weeks.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, August 3, 2020 ($/CWT)   Deliver Last Year Last Week This Week Change 2020 NEW Crop Chicago Oil Nearby 27.76 29.60 31.67 +2.07 31.32 West Fargo, ND NuSun 17.85 19.25 16.70 -2.55 16.70 West Fargo, ND High Oleic 18.20 19.40 16.90 -2.50 16.90 Enderlin, ND NuSun 17.85 19.25 16.60 -2.65 16.60 Enderlin, ND High Oleic 18.15 19.55 16.80 -2.75 16.80 Goodland, KS NuSun 16.40 18.45 16.80 -1.65 16.80 Goodland, KS High Oleic 17.50 19.20 17.80 -1.40 17.80 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, August 3, 2020 (dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)   Last Year Last Week This Week Change Soybean Oil 27.37 29.00 30.92 +1.92 Cotton Oil (psby) 36.76 44.60 46.22 +1.62 Corn Oil 28.00 71.00 71.00 NC