Sunflower Highlights
Post Date: Feb 26 2018
Spitz Sunflower Seed Plant to Close
The Spitz sunflower seed plant in southeastern Alberta will close later this year and production will be moving the United States. The plant in Bow Island, Alberta (southeast of Calgary). The closure will impact 53 employees. Tom and Emmy Droog started Spitz about 30 years ago. The couple sold the company to Pepsico in 2008.
Tile Drainage Research Forum Set for Next Week
Producers, tiling contractors, landowners, industry and agency staff, crop consultants, students, and land and water resource managers will have an opportunity to learn about subsurface drainage research in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North and South Dakota during a forum in Fargo on March 6. The registration deadline is March 4. Click here to register and for more information. Participants will learn about research projects and results from 14 North Dakota State University and Minnesota researchers. The NDSU Extension Service is sponsoring the event. The forum will start at 8 a.m. with registration and conclude about 4 p.m. It will be held in the Century Theater at the NDSU Memorial Union.
NSA Scholarship Available
The National Sunflower Association is seeking applications for the Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship. In tribute to the dedicated work of Curtis Stern, an industry advocate and former NSA board member, the NSA Board of Directors established a memorial scholarship in his name. Funds assist students who study in the field of agriculture with a special emphasis on sunflower production, promotion, or research. Application deadline is April 1, 2018. $4,600 is available for the scholarship this year. Preference will be given to students who are in their last two years of undergraduate studies or in graduate level studies and have maintained at least a cumulative 3.0 GPA on a 4.0=A scale. Application deadline is April 1, 2018. A total of $4,600 is available for the scholarship this year. Click here for more information and for an application. Applications can be submitted online. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with any questions.
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Markets
2018 new crop prices for oil sunflower saw upward movement this week adding 30 cents per hundredweight in some locations. New crop prices are in range of $17.20-$18.15 for NuSun with High Oleics at $17.50-$18.35 at the crush plants. Crush plants are offering cash and Act of God (AOG) contracts for fall delivery. Most fundamental news for oil has been negative lately putting CBoT soybean oil contracts on the defensive. The cold weather in the US this winter has driven crush demand for soybean meal and pressured CBoT soyoil contracts as oil stocks have started to build. Market analysts think this trend will reverse into the spring and summer months with oil prices strengthening as meal demand tapers off. Overall nearby sunflower prices have remained relatively firm and not followed the recent negative trend in oil values. A smaller 2017 US sunflower crop and good demand are supporting seed prices. Old crop prices were mixed this week at down 10 cents to up 25 cents. There are only three days left in determining 2018 crop insurance spring prices. The price election for oil type sunflowers is expected to be around $17.50 with confections at $23.70 per cwt. Final price elections will be announced in early March. In the week ahead, US export demand news and South American weather will continue to be the main market movers.
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