Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Mar 05 2018

John Swanson 2018 Gold Award Winner

John Swanson has been named the 2018 NSA Gold Award winner. Swanson has worked in the sunflower industry for over 45 years. He began his sunflower career in 1971 as a production field man for Dahlgren & Co. He also worked as the domestic and international salesman of edible sunflower, new product development manager, and general manager of the planting seed division. In 1993, when the Dahlgren seed division was sold, John joined Croplan Genetics (Land O’Lakes) where he worked until retirement as the first and only sunflower product manager. Swanson served on the NSA Board of Directors for 12 years as secretary/treasurer. He is currently finishing his last term as chairman of the Minnesota Sunflower Council. The NSA Board of Directors selected Swanson for the award at its meeting last week. They’ll present Swanson with the award at the summer seminar, which will be held at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, MN June 26-28, 2018.

County Level Commodity Estimates Now Available

County-level estimates for 2017 row crops including sunflower, corn, and soybeans, are now available, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statics Service. The estimates, based primarily on surveys conducted with farmers and ranchers last fall, can be accessed using the QuickStats online database, found at www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/. County-level row estimates for canola and flaxseed will be published in March 2018 and dry edible peas, lentils, dry edible beans, and hay will be published in April 2018.

NSA Scholarship Available

The National Sunflower Association is seeking applicants for the Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship. Scholarship 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. Applications can be submitted online at the North Dakota Community Foundation website. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with any questions.

Production Resource Books Available on NSA Website

Spring planting is just around the corner—find helpful information on our website: www.sunflowernsa.com/growers. Check out the Sunflower Production Resource Book for your area. The books provide guidelines and recommendations on production practices, pest identification, field selection, and more.

Upcoming Events

March 21, 2018 – NSA High Plains Committee Meeting, Goodland, KS
June 26-28, 2018 – NSA Summer Seminar, Arrowwood Resort, Alexandria, MN

Markets

2018 new crop prices for oil sunflower saw upward movement again this week adding 15 to 35 cents per hundredweight. Some locations have seen an increase of up to 50 cents in the past two weeks. New crop prices are in range of $17.30-$18.35 for NuSun with High Oleics at $17.85-$18.50 at the crush plants. Crush plants are offering cash and Act of God (AOG) contracts for fall delivery. A smaller 2017 US sunflower crop and good demand are supporting old crop prices which ended the week down 5 cents to unchanged. The final 2018 price elections for sunflower will be announced this week. The price election for oil type sunflowers is expected to be $17.50 with confections at $23.70 per cwt. Media headlines and uncertainties now surrounding trade has the market on edge after the United States said it would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports; commodity traders fear the U.S. tariffs could provoke retaliation from major trading partners like China. China imports about 33% of the US soybean production each year. Some traders feel the large U.S. soybean supply, slower demand for products, and US farmers adding soybean acres in 2018 could pressure 2018 new crop soybean prices. This situation bears watching as it could have a major impact on prices for all crops if it sparks some type of retaliation by the Chinese.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, March 5, 2018 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2018 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	34.02	32.62	32.01	-.61	32.85
Fargo, ND	NuSun	15.20	NQ	17.25	---	18.35
Fargo, ND	High Oleic	NQ	NQ	17.20	---	18.35
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	15.35	17.45	17.40	-.05	18.30
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	NQ	17.45	17.40	-.05	18.50
Goodland, KS	NuSun	14.25	16.90	16.90	NC	17.30
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	15.90	17.90	17.90	NC	18.30

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, March 5, 2017
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	31.77	30.82	30.41	-.41
Cotton Oil (psby)	42.27	30.86	30.21	-.65
Corn Oil	43.00	35.00	34.00	-1.00