Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jan 08 2018

NSA Research Forum Starts Wednesday

The National Sunflower Association’s 40^th annual Sunflower Research Forum begins Wednesday morning in Fargo, ND. Researchers from the Dakotas, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Canada will present their findings on sunflower research they’ve done. Topics will include diseases, protecting sunflower from blackbirds, insects, and more. Dr. Michael A. Grusak will be the noon speaker at this year’s NSA Research Forum, scheduled for next week. Dr. Grusak is the director of USDA-ARS Red River Valley Agricultural Research Center in Fargo, ND. He will talk about sunflower research being conducted at the center. It’s not too late to attend; you can register at the door on Wednesday morning! Click here for more information and a schedule.

National Sclerotinia Initiative Meeting Set for Next Week

NSA representatives will be attending the annual National Sclerotinia Initiative meeting on January 17-18 in Minneapolis, MN. The ARS-led Initiative supports projects aimed at neutralizing white mold’s economic threat to seven different crops; sunflower, soybean, canola, edible dry beans, chickpeas, lentils, and dry peas. The consortium of federal and state university scientists includes 10 commodity groups, and is led by the Agricultural Research Service, the USDA’s chief scientific research agency.

Yield Trials and Hybrid Disease Ratings Available Online

Yield trials are an important way for producers to look at a hybrid’s performance in several locations, over several years and environments. Yield is one component of the trials. Click here to find yield trials and hybrid disease ratings for your state.

'Cover Your Acres' Conference is Next Week

The National Sunflower Association’s High Plains Committee is proud to be a sponsor of the 2018 ‘Cover Your Acres’ winter conference, scheduled for January 16-17 at the Gateway in Oberlin, KS. ‘Cover Your Acres’ is a research based educational conference for producers and industry leaders. It is a conference for new ideas and updates in crop production practices relevant to the Central Plains. This is a producer-driven conference resulting from a partnership of K-State Research and Extension and the Northwest Kansas Crop Residue Alliance. Click here to learn more and to register.

Read the January Issue of The Sunflower Online

The Duell family of Ruelton, KS say sunflower is a crop they continue to count on year after year. Read more about this family’s three decades of sunflower success in the latest issue of The Sunflower, available online now. Click here to read it. This month’s issue also includes a highlights of the 2017 national sunflower crop survey, a look at the sunflower market outlook for 2018, and an update on a Georgia distillery’s efforts to get malted sunflower spirits into more stores. Also, visit our website to sign up for e-publications, and each digital copy of the magazine will be delivered to your email inbox. Click here to sign up.

Upcoming Events

January 10-11, 2018 – NSA Research Forum, Fargo, ND
June 26-28, 2018 – NSA Summer Seminar, Arrowwood Resort, Alexandria, MN

Markets

On January 12, the USDA will issue an important monthly USDA report which will include updated US and World Supply and Demand tables, US Winter Wheat plantings, and Quarterly Stocks. USDA is expected to increase the size of the US 2017 corn crop, potentially lower US corn, soybean and wheat exports, estimate record Dec 1 corn and soybean stocks and estimate lower US 2018 winter wheat acres in their annual report. In the report USDA, will release its final 2017 sunflower production estimate. Despite severe drought conditions in the Dakotas actual harvest results in most cases were above expectations. Many people expect the USDA will increase the overall average sunflower yield from their October estimate of 1,339 lbs. per acre. On the CBoT, trading has been driven by positioning ahead of this week’s USDA reports. Talk that the US may allow for the biodiesel blend credit for 2017 and 2018 and higher palm oil prices have been helping soyoil prices. Traders have also been talking about South American weather and how U.S. demand prospects will shape up going into the late winter, early spring time periods. Weather in South America has been a mixed story and US exports have disappointed so far. Markets will probably trade mostly sideways until the middle, end of January until more is digested and known concerning South American weather and the USDA reports.

Weekly Prices

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, January 8, 2018 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2018 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	35.27	33.38	33.43	+.05	33.71
Fargo, ND	NuSun	14.60	17.65	17.65	NC	18.00
Fargo, ND	High Oleic	NQ	17.55	17.55	NC	18.25
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	15.30	17.45	17.45	NC	18.10
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	NQ	17.45	17.45	NC	18.10
Goodland, KS	NuSun	14.60	16.70	16.75	+.05	17.05
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	16.10	17.70	17.75	+.05	18.05

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, January 8, 2018
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	33.49	31.70	31.69	-.01
Cotton Oil (psby)	43.49	32.28	32.43	+.15
Corn Oil	43.00	37.50	36.50	-1.00