Sunflower Highlights
Post Date: Mar 27 2017
NSA Welcomes New Board Members
Bruce Speich joins the NSA Board of Directors as a farmer representative from North Dakota’s District 3 in Sargent County. Speich replaces Arnold Woodbury of Wyndmere, ND. Woodbury decided not to seek reelection. He had served on the NSA Board of Directors since 2009. Ben Vig was also reelected to another term as the District 2 representative from Steele County. This is Vig’s third term on the Board. He was first elected in 2011.
NSA Website Offers Help for Growers
Spring planting on your mind? If you’ve got questions about growing sunflower, we’ve got answers! Visit our website - the “growers” section of our website addresses many questions and factors that influence a successful sunflower crop. Several links are provided that give more details about many important topics, including insects, diseases, weeds, yield trials, approved chemicals, production, marketing, crop insurance, and more.
Bayer Bee Care Community Leadership Award
Applications are being accepted for the 2017 Bayer Bee Care Community Leadership Award. The award recognizes a partnership between a beekeeper and a grower, researcher, golf course superintendent or other stakeholder whose collaboration protects pollinators and benefits their community. The partner applicants are eligible for a $5,000 prize to continue their work. The 2017 Bayer Bee Care Community Leadership Award also recognizes a young beekeeper under 18 with a $1,000 prize to support honey bee-focused initiatives in his or her school or community. The award winners are selected from a pool of applicants by a panel of three judges. The deadline for submission is Friday, May 19, 2017. Click here  for more information.
Markets
On Friday, USDA will release its March 1 stocks and US 2017 planted acres by crop reports. Some industry members are expecting oil sunflower acres to show a decrease from 2016. Confection sunflower acres are expected to be equal to or slightly higher than last year. Most private firms look for corn and wheat acres to decrease with soybeans showing a large increase from last year. On the CBoT, the South American soybean harvest continues to weigh on the market. A recent private estimate put Brazil's crop at 111 million metric tons. USDA is at 108 million. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange has raised its estimate for Argentina soybeans to 56.5 million metric tons from 54.8 million. USDA is at 55.5 million. The lower prices have subdued farmer selling, which has tightened supplies in cash markets. Market bears feel the large South America 2017 supplies will eventually push soybean prices lower. The terrorist attack in London near the British Parliament building added to market anxiety. There are also worries that President Trump will be unable to accelerate economic growth and those concerns have fueled fund selling. Soyoil values rallied with the 2017 RFS volume mandate taking effect last week. The rule puts in place a 15-billion-gallon conventional biofuel requirement, the maximum allowed under the law. Trading in the week ahead will mainly revolve around the upcoming USDA reports plus South American harvest progress and impact it might have on US exports.
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