Sunflower Highlights
Post Date: Oct 15 2019
Crop Progress
Harvest is 73% finished in Texas and it's just getting started in North Dakota, where four percent of the crop is reported harvested.
Crop Progress - Tuesday, October 15, 2019
State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average
North Dakota        
Bracts Yellow  96 88 100 100
Mature 71 53 96 91
Harvested 4 0 14 13
Kansas        
Harvested 17 7 15 12
Colorado        
Harvested 41 8 7 8
Texas        
Harvested 73 71 70 70
Crop Conditions - Tuesday, October 15, 2019
State Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
North Dakota 1 10 21 64 4
Colorado 0 0 24 70 6
Minnesota 1 2 25 64 8
Sunflower Included in U.S.- Japan Trade Deal
Last week, the U.S. and Japan signed an agreement that will lower or eliminate tariffs into Japan's market. NSA has been in contact with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative requesting that any U.S. Free Trade Agreement with Japan reduce the tariff for U.S. sunflower oil putting us on par with our foreign competitors.  Under the agreement, the tariff on crude sunflower oil is reduced by one third of the base rate on Jan. 1, 2020 and scheduled to fall to zero by April 1, 2023. Japanese consumption and import of sunflower oil are increasing and is expected to increase by 5 percent annually. Removing the tariff will ensure the U.S. sunflower industry remains competitive in the Japanese market and will foster the future export of sunflower oil.
Industry Leader Passes Away
Max Dietrich, long time sunflower advocate passed away this week after a long battle with cancer. During his career, Max worked for several hybrid seed and crop protection companies. He was production coordinator for the National Sunflower Association for four years. Later, serving as Chairman of the NSA Research Committee for four years. Max was a tireless worker and truly gave of himself to help others and the overall sunflower industry. His warm smile and laugh will be missed by all.
NSA Receives Specialty Crop Grants
The North Dakota Department of Agriculture has awarded the National Sunflower Association $124,050 for enhancing rust resistance in confection sunflower production through next-generation technologies. In addition, NDSU was awarded $75,751 for optimizing the deployment of bee vectored Clonostachys rosea for managing Sclerotinia head rot in confection sunflowers. The money is part of 24 grants the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS) approved, totaling over $2.7 million. The money is given to promote the development, cultivation production and sales of specialty crops in North Dakota. 
Call for Papers
Here’s your chance to be a part of the National Sunflower Association’s Research Forum. We are looking for research papers to be presented at the NSA Research Forum, set for January 8-9, 2020 in Fargo, ND. Presentations may be either oral or in the form of a poster. A time will be designated for authors to be with their posters and answer questions. Each oral presentation will be limited to 10-12 minutes with 2-3 minutes allowed for questions. Click here if you are interested in presenting a paper. You do not have to submit the actual paper or poster at this time, just the information indicated online and the author information. Submissions must be completed by November 15, 2019. 
Upcoming Events
December 10-11, 2019 – Ag Horizons, Pierre, SD 
December 12, 2019 – High Plains Committee Meeting, Goodland, KS
January 8-9, 2020 – NSA Research Forum, Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND 
June 23-25, 2020 – NSA Summer Seminar, Spearfish, SD
Markets
Last week USDA released its first production estimate of the 2019 sunflower crop. The caveat to the USDA report is that it was based on growing conditions before a widespread powerful winter storm hit the Dakotas and Minnesota last week and assumed normal weather for the remainder of the growing season.By the beginning of October, harvest was underway in Colorado, Kansas and Texas but had not yet begun in the Dakotas. So, take these figures with a grain of salt. USDA pegged 2019 sunflower production at 2.25 billion pounds, up 7 percent from the revised 2018 production of 2.11 billion pounds. USDA shaved off 9 million pounds from 2018 oil sunflower production leaving non-oil production unchanged. Area planted, at 1.36 million acres, is down 2 percent from the June estimate but up 4 percent from last year. US sunflower growers are expected to harvest 1.31 million acres, down 3 percent from June but up 4 percent from last year. The overall average yield for all sunflower types is forecast, at 1,724 pounds per acre. This is 7 pounds lower than last year’s yield but will be the third highest on record, if realized. The forecasted production in North Dakota would make it the leading sunflower producing state this year, at 956 million pounds, up 29 percent from 2018. In South Dakota, production is forecast at 913 million pounds down 6 percent from last year.
Weekly Prices Recorded on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 ($/CWT)
  Deliver Last Year Last Week This Week Change 2019 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil Nearby 29.76 30.01 30.39 +.38 31.64
Fargo, ND NuSun 17.25 18.60 18.55 -.05 NQ
Fargo, ND High Oleic 17.25 18.90 18.80 -.10 NQ
Enderlin, ND NuSun 17.10 18.10 18.60 +.50 17.80
Enderlin, ND High Oleic 17.35 18.50 18.80 +.30 18.30
Goodland, KS NuSun 16.85 16.85 16.95 +.10 17.30
Goodland, KS High Oleic 18.00 18.10 18.20 +.10 18.55
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 Tuesday, October 15, 2019
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)
  Last Year Last Week This Week Change
Soybean Oil 29.26 29.66 29.99 +.33
Cotton Oil (psby) 31.76 39.01 39.39 +.38
Corn Oil 30.00 30.00 30.00 NC
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