Sunflower Highlights
Post Date: Jul 02 2018
Crop Progress
Sunflower planting is wrapping up in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and South Dakota and in North Dakota 92% of the sunflower crop is emerged and 1% is even reported blooming. In Minnesta, 70% of the sunflower crop is reported in good to excellent condition.
Crop Progress - Monday, July 2, 2018
State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average
North Dakota        
Emerged 92 83 95 NA
Blooming 1 --- 3 NA
South Dakota        
Planted 91 87 100 94
Kansas        
Planted 88 82 92 88
Colorado        
Planted 95 80 89 87
Texas        
Planted 90 85 90 93
Harvested 30 25 39 NA
Crop Conditions - Monday, July 2, 2018
State Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
North Dakota 0 1 14 77 8
Minnesota 0 0 30 47 23
2018 Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship Recipients Recognized
Brian Smart and Brandt Berghuis
Brian Smart and Brandt Berghuis
Brian Smart and Brandt Berghuis are the recipients of this year’s Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship, administered by the National Sunflower Association. Smart and Berghuis were recognized at the Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser last week at the NSA Summer Seminar in Alexandria, MN. Each will receive $2,450. Smart is pursuing a double master’s degree in Plant Science and Software Engineering from North Dakota State University. Berghuis has worked in sunflower pathology for five years and is currently a Ph.D. student at North Dakota State University.
Markets
USDA released its planted acres report last week. Area planted to sunflower in 2018 totals 1.46 million acres, up 4 percent from 2017. Harvested area is expected to increase 4 percent from last year to 1.41 million acres. Planted area of oil type varieties, at 1.31 million acres, is up 8 percent from 2017, and harvested area is also expected to increase 8 percent from last year to 1.27 million acres. Planted acreage of non-oil varieties, estimated at 147,000, is down 21 percent from last year. Harvested area is expected to decrease 21 percent from last year to 136,700 acres. Total planted sunflower acres were 4 percent higher than the March report. For the first time since 1983, soybean planted acreage topped corn planted acreage. USDA estimated soybean acreage at 89.6 million acres with corn at 89.1 million acres. All-wheat planted acreage for 2018 is estimated at 47.8 million acres, up 4% from 2017. Spring wheat acres were pegged at 13.2 million acres, up 20% from last year. Soybean stocks came in at 1.22 billion bushels, which was at the higher end of the average trade guess and was considered slightly bearish by traders.  With the release of the USDA report, the key to oilseed prices going forward will be US summer weather and demand news. Traders will also be closely watching what happens on July 6, as the U.S. and China have both designated that day to enact their proposed tariffs.
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