Sunflower Highlights
Post Date: Sep 12 2016
Crop Progress
Sunflowers are still blooming in South Dakota, but petals are dropping in many of that state's fields as well. In North Dakota, 22 percent of the sunflower crop is already mature, and Texas producers continue to harvest, with 35 percent of the crop reported harvested. Crop conditions are good in reporting states; Colorado and Kansas both report 70 percent of the sunflower crop in good to excellent condition.
Crop Progress - Monday, September 12, 2016
State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average
North Dakota        
Petals Dry 86 78 89 76
Bracts Yellow 67 52 48 37
Mature 22 6 12 ---
South Dakota        
Blooming 90 81 100 100
Petals Dry 50 34 65 72
Bracts Yellow 17 8 21 39
Texas        
Harvested 35 25 44 45
Kansas        
Petals Dry 47 28 45 58
Bracts Yellow 18 --- --- ---
Crop Conditions - Monday, September 12, 2016
State Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
North Dakota 1 5 23 65 6
South Dakota 1 6 38 53 2
Minnesota 2 3 37 50 8
Colorado 0 3 27 63 7
Kansas 0 2 28 63 7
Estimating Yields in Sunflower Fields
September is typically an ideal month to estimate sunflower yields. Sunflower yields can be estimated using the tried and true method that is used during the annual sunflower survey. Sunflower should be at R7 stage of growth. To learn more about estimating yield, click here.
Grower Report
After a dry August, September has brought some timely rains for Dickinson, ND area producer Art Ridl. Ridl says his 1,900 acres of high oleic sunflower are filling well and the backs of the heads are turning yellow. He says some producers in the area have already desiccated their sunflower fields in anticipation of harvest.
Markets
Sunflower prices at the crush plants ended the week down 15-35 cents per hundredweight. Nearby sunflower prices have backed off somewhat as farmers have been very active sellers on the recent rally in seed prices at the crush plants. Weaker CBoT soyoil prices have added resistance to sunflower prices. The majority of the US sunflower crop continues to be rated in good to excellent condition in all major production states by USDA. Sunflower harvest should be starting soon as many acres have already been desiccated and are just waiting for drier weather for harvest to begin.  In addition to watching weather forecasts, CBoT traders were anxiously awaiting the next series of USDA reports that were released this morning. Traders were expecting USDA to confirm recent private crop estimates and they did not disappoint as soybean production was raised 141 million bushels due to a higher yield forecast of 50.6 bushels per acre, which bumped production to 4.2 billion bushels, which would be a record. USDA also increased new crop ending stocks from 330 million to 365 million bushels, more than was expected. This set a bearish tone at the CBoT for beans and products resulting in today’s losses. In the week ahead, the market will continue to trade the USDA September crop report and any actual yield reports from this year's harvest.
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