Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: May 16 2016

Grower Report

It isn’t the earliest Crookston, MN sunflower producer Kevin Capistran has had his sunflowers planted, but it’s pretty close. Capistran finished planting sunflowers on May 5 – the weather that day was in the 90s. This weekend, temperatures dropped down to 21 degrees. He says while other crops look a bit tough after that cold snap, his sunflower should be fine, because sunflower can tolerate an early planting date much better than some other crops.

Crop Progress - Monday, May 16, 2016

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Planted	21	6	12	7
South Dakota
Planted	2	0	0	1
Minnesota
Planted	57	30	51	22
Texas
Planted	33	30	57	42
Colorado
Planted	4	3	4	4
Kansas
Planted	NA	NA	1	2

Registration for the 34^th annual NSA Summer Seminar is open on our website. Click here to register. Registration takes only a few minutes. This year’s Summer Seminar scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, June 28-30 at the Ramada Hotel in Bismarck, ND. A block of rooms has been reserved at Ramada for June 28-29 under the “National Sunflower Association.” To reserve a room, guests may call 1-800-554-7077. Check the NSA website for further updates. See you in Bismarck!

New N Calculator Now Available for ND Producers

The North Dakota Nitrogen Calculator is now operational, just in time for planting preparations. You can find a link to the calculator here. The calculator uses the new nitrogen recommendations, which have been updated for the first time since the 1970s. There are also new recommendations for phosphorus (P) for sunflower in the Northern Great Plains. The new N and P recommendations are based on general productivity history and not a yield prediction model. N and P recommendations are based on both documented yield responses to each and economic analysis. The NDSU Fertilizing Sunflower Circular SF713 with the new recommendations can be found here.

SunButter Releases New Snack Recipe Book

SunButter has released a new snack recipe book containing over 20 peanut and tree nut free recipes and serving suggestions. It is a great resource for parents looking for safe recipes to send to school and after-school activities. Click here to download the snack recipe book for free.

Upcoming Events

May 29-June 3,2016
19th Annual International Sunflower Conference
Edirne, Turkey

June 28-30, 2016
2016 NSA Summer Seminar
Bismarck, ND

Markets

USDA’s May Supply/Demand report rallied soybeans early last week but the market backed off somewhat by week’s end. USDA forecast ending soybean stocks at 305 million bushels, about 120 million bushels below the average pre-report trade estimate, which was a bullish surprise to traders. However, as the week progressed the market took back some of the gains on poor weekly US soybean export sales, better Argentina harvest weather and an overbought trading picture. The weather in Argentina is drying out, with little rain forecast for the next two weeks, which should aid harvest progress. Higher prices and rain in the Midwest this week and forecasts for more next week has raised talk acres may be switched to soybeans. The market may be overcompensating for the lower than expected South American crop. If the shift results in more soybean acres than were indicated in USDA’s March report there is the likelihood, there will be a market correction. With the market overbought it could mean that weak speculators could be quick to get out. Some market analysts think there could be a price decline of 40 to 80 cents in soybeans. If a summer drought fails to happen, there are thoughts soybeans could drop further. Traders will be watching US planting progress, export news and harvest conditions in Argentina this week

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, May 16, 2016 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2016 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	32.78	32.54	32.79	+.25	33.35
Fargo, ND	NuSun	21.20	16.60	16.75	+.15	17.65
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	21.30	16.90	16.90	NC	17.65
Goodland, KS	NuSun	18.90	16.70	16.80	+.10	17.05
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	21.90	17.70	17.80	+.10	18.80

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, May 16, 2016
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	32.28	30.58	30.54	-.04
Cotton Oil (psby)	50.78	47.83	47.79	-.04
Corn Oil	40.50	45.50	45.25	-.25