Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Oct 11 2016

Harvest is underway in all reporting states. In Texas, 60 percent of the sunflower crop is reported harvested, while Colorado producers are just getting started on the harvest, with one percent of the crop reported harvested.

Crop Progress - Tuesday, October 11, 2016

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Bracts Yellow	94	92	97	95
Mature	86	74	90	82
Harvested	12	6	12	12
South Dakota
Petals Dry	94	85	96	NA
Bracts Yellow	83	69	92	94
Mature	67	39	70	NA
Harvested	15	2	4	11
Texas
Harvested	60	58	66	64
Kansas
Petals Dry	91	84	94	93
Bracts Yellow	81	69	72	82
Mature	62	45	35	59
Harvested	10	---	4	14
Minnesota
Harvested	38	22	47	34
Colorado
Harvested	1	---	17	17

Crop Conditions - Tuesday, October 11, 2016

State	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	1	5	23	65	6
South Dakota	1	5	34	57	3
Minnesota	2	3	37	49	9
Colorado	0	3	27	62	8
Kansas	1	3	28	62	6

Reduce Risk of Combine Fires

Sunflower is an oil-based crop, and fine fibers from sunflower seeds pose a constant fire hazard, especially when conditions are dry. Here are some tips to help reduce the risk this harvest season:

Keep a clean work area when harvesting sunflower. Blow the combine and grain dryer setup with an air hose daily. If possible, consider having a portable leaf blower on hand for this in the field.
Try nighttime harvesting, when humidity levels are higher.
Keep a small pressure sprayer filled with water on hand in the combine in case of fire.

For more information, click here.

Markets

Harvest pressure and large seed deliveries to the crush plants have caused nearby sunflower prices to back off. Harvest is cranking up and producers have been very active sellers in the past two weeks. Initial yield reports continue to be very positive and quality is generally very good. Sunflower harvest started sooner this year as many acres were desiccated. With most of the US crop rated in the good to excellent categories, yields and quality are expected to be above average. USDA’s next production estimates and supply and demand report will be out on October 12. This will give traders the first official estimate of the 2016 US sunflower crop. Depending on the size of 2016 crop, seed prices could continue to drift lower as harvest deliveries arrive at plants and farmers pick up the selling pace in the next couple of months. After the initial harvest delivery period prices will follow demand news. On the CBoT, traders are bracing for a bearish US soybean crop estimate this week. A big soybean crop is likely getting bigger as most private market analysts have raised their yield and production forecasts above USDA’s current forecast. Informa says USDA is expected to adjust acreage estimates for corn, sorghum, soybeans and sunflowers in its October Crop Production report Wednesday. The report will drive trading in the week ahead.