Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Apr 15 2019

2019 Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship Winner Announced

Bryan Hansen of New Effington, SD is the recipient of this year’s Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship, administered by the National Sunflower Association. Hansen will be recognized at the Curtis Stern Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser in Medora in June. Hansen will receive $5,000. Hansen is pursuing his Master of Science in Plant Pathology at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. He earned his undergraduate degree in Crop and Weed Science from NDSU in May 2018.

Nelson Appointed to USDA-APHIS National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee

Scott Nelson, NSA board member from Lakota, ND, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee for a two-year term. The committee advises the secretary of agriculture on policies, program issues and related research needed to conduct the APHIS Wildlife Services (WS) program.

Reducing Blackbird Damage

As producers gear up for planting, now is a good time to think about blackbirds and reducing the damage they could cause to this year’s sunflower crop. USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services recommends not planting sunflower in close proximity to large cattail sloughs (blackbird roosts) if at all possible. If you do plant close to cattails, consider spraying cattails with glyphosate in accordance with the label, or mowing cattails if possible. Something else to consider is developing roads or trails in larger fields (quarter or more) to allow access to the middle of fields. Birds always go to the center of the field where you can’t reach them. Trails or roads allow you many more locations and better accessibility to move blackbirds out of the field and reduce losses. Click here for more tips to reduce blackbird damage.

Registration is now open for our 2019 NSA Summer Seminar, scheduled for June 26-27, 2019. This year’s Summer Seminar will be held in Medora, North Dakota. You can register on our website – click here. You’ll find our tentative schedule too, as well as hotel information and more. Pre-registration will begin at $325 and golf at $145, so register early for the best price. A block of rooms has been reserved in Medora. To make your reservation, visit www.medora.com, select hotel reservations and enter check-in and check-out dates. You also need to enter Group Code 5781. Note: The total per/room you’ll see when making your reservation is for your entire stay; it is not a nightly rate. You can also call 1-800-633-6721 and ask for the NSA block of rooms. The program is being finalized now and more information will be coming soon. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with questions.

Would you like to get a link to a digital copy of Sunflower Highlights every week in your email? It’s easy! Click here to sign up. You can also sign up for a digital copy of our magazine, The Sunflower, there. And for sunflower prices at various locations, click here.

Upcoming Events

June 25-27, 2019: NSA Summer Seminar, Medora, ND

Markets

Nearby NuSun prices were down 5 cents to unchanged with high oleic prices unchanged to up 20 cents this week at the crush plants. New crop was unchanged. There is still time to take advantage of the market opportunities that sunflowers can offer as crushing plants are still offering Act of God (AOG) and cash new crop contracts. USDA’s April US/World supply and demand report was termed a nonevent for oilseed by most of the trade. USDA left the Argentine soybean crop unchanged at 55 Million Metric Tons (MMT) and raised the Brazil soybean crop production to 117 MMT as expected. They also lowered US soybean carryout by only 5 million bushels. Of more interest to traders were the HRS wheat figures. USDA cut HRS export demand by another 15 million bushels, which helped push ending stocks up to 305 million bushels. This level of ending stocks are the largest since 1987/88 with a stocks/use ratio of almost 52%. Without a sizable reduction in production in the 2019 growing season plus taking into consideration current demand traders think HRS wheat ending stocks will rise even further putting pressure on new crop prices. Trading for the next few weeks willmainly revolve around the USDA reports,competition for 2019 acreage,export sales, plus news of any progress in the US/China trade talks and impact it might have on US exports.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, April 15, 2019 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2019 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	31.18	28.88	28.81	-.07	29.85
Fargo, ND	NuSun	17.80	17.50	17.50	NC	17.25
Fargo, ND	High Oleic	17.75	17.80	18.00	+.20	17.25
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	17.70	17.45	17.40	-.05	17.05
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	17.70	17.80	17.80	NC	17.35
Goodland, KS	NuSun	16.95	16.65	16.65	NC	16.85
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	17.95	17.75	17.75	NC	18.10

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, April 15, 2109
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	29.38	28.13	28.06	-.07
Cotton Oil (psby)	29.18	37.88	37.81	-.07
Corn Oil	32.00	30.00	30.00	NC