Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Feb 03 2020

FMC Introduces New Herbicide for 2020 Growing Season

FMC has launched a new preplant and preemergence herbicide called Authority Edge. The EPA has approved registration for use in sunflowers. Authority Edge controls a wide spectrum of weeds including waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, pigweed, kochia and foxtail. The new herbicide is effective against ALS, triazine, HPPD, glyphosate and PPO herbicide resistant weeds.

Agricultural Tile Drainage Design Workshop Scheduled

North Dakota State University Extension’s annual Tile Drainage Workshop will be held on March 10 in room 380 in Loftsgard Hall on the NDSU campus. The design workshop is intended for those interested in a more complete understanding of the planning and design principles and practices for drainage, sub irrigation and water table management. The workshop will focus on the planning and design of agricultural tile drainage systems, including water management structures and life stations – to meet profitability and environmental objectives. The course content is taught in modules with emphasis on hands-on learning and time for discussions. Registration is $90 which includes materials and lunch. The workshop is limited to 45 participants. Click here to register for the workshop.

Nominations invited for NSA Gold Award

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2020 NSA Gold Award. Click here for the eligibility and criteria requirements. Nominations must be received by February 14, 2020. The NSA Board of Directors will review all submitted applications and choose a winner. The Gold Award will be presented during this year’s NSA Summer Seminar, set for June 23-25 in Spearfish, SD. Each year, the National Sunflower Association presents its Gold Award to an individual who has contributed extraordinarily to the overall sunflower industry, either through his or her occupation or through the National Sunflower Association. This award is considered to be the highest award that the NSA presents to individuals. The award has been given since 1989.

Upcoming North Dakota County Elections

Growers are invited to attend elections in their county for the sunflower representatives to the North Dakota Oilseed Council. Elections are being held in several areas this month. Here’s a list by county:

Cass County: February 10, 11 a.m., Hagge’s Bar and Grill, Mapleton
LaMoure County, February 13, 11:30 a.m., Centerfield Bar and Grill, LaMoure
Barnes County: February 20, 10 a.m., Barnes County Ext Office, Valley City
Richland County: February 24, 8:30 a.m., Richland County Courthouse, Wahpeton
Ransom County: February 25, 12 p.m.,Enderlin Fire Hall,
Steele County: February 26, 12 p.m., Tobiason-Christy’s Lakeview Catering, Hatton

District elections will be held in March. Click here for more information.

NSA scholarship available

The National Sunflower Association is seeking applicants for the Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship. In tribute to the dedicated work of Curtis Stern, an industry advocate and former NSA board member. 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, 2020. A total of $3,500 is available for the scholarship this year. Applications can be submitted online. Click here to learn more. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with any questions.

Upcoming Events

February 4-5, 2020
CCTA Conference, Burlington, CO

March 12, 2020
NSA High Plains Committee Meeting, Goodland, KS

June 23-25, 2020 – NSA Summer Seminar, Spearfish, SD

Markets

The coronavirus which started in China and is now spreading around the world is affecting global markets. The disease plus Lunar New Year celebration in China have slowed export purchases and pushed soybean prices lower with some spillover weakness in wheat and corn. Traders fear the disease outbreak will lead to slower demand and impact China’s commitment to purchase large quantities of US agricultural products in the Phase One US-China trade deal. In the sunflower market, nearby sunflower prices ended the week down 15 cents to unchanged. 2020 new crop prices for NuSun and high oleic sunflower were down 30 cents to unchanged. On February 3, the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) will begin the discovery process in determining 2020 crop insurance price elections for sunflower. Producers have the option of choosing Yield Protection, Revenue Protection, and Revenue Protection with the Harvest Price Exclusion. All three policies have the same price election. To follow the direction for sunflower price elections, watch the 2020 CBoT December soyoil contract during the month of February. Final price elections will be announced in early March. South America continues to make good harvest progress and weather conditions are favorable for producing a record soybean crop. In the week ahead CBoT traders will continue to debate the coronavirus impact on US export demand and South American production prospects.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, February 3, 2020 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2020 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	30.13	31.52	30.29	-1.23	31.77
West Fargo, ND	NuSun	16.90	20.00	19.90	-.10	18.75
West Fargo, ND	High Oleic	17.00	20.25	20.10	-.15	19.10
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	16.65	19.80	19.80	NC	18.70
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	17.25	20.00	20.00	NC	19.20
Goodland, KS	NuSun	16.55	18.65	18.65	NC	18.70
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	17.65	19.40	19.40	NC	19.50

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, February 3, 2020
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	29.33	31.02	29.79	-1.23
Cotton Oil (psby)	36.13	38.52	37.29	-1.23
Corn Oil	30.00	39.00	39.00	NC