Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jan 09 2017

NSA Research Forum Starts Wednesday

The National Sunflower Association’s 39^th annual Sunflower Research Forum beings Wednesday morning in Fargo, ND. Researchers from the Dakotas, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Canada will present their findings on sunflower research they’ve done. Topics will include diseases, protecting sunflower from blackbirds, insects, and more. SDSU’s Febina Mathew and NDSU’s Sam Markell will be the noon speakers at this year’s NSA Research Forum, scheduled for next week. Mathew and Markell will speak about managing Phomopsis stem canker by developing a disease forecasting model for farmers to help them know when to spray and identification of resistant materials for breeding into commercial hybrids. It’s not too late to attend; you can register at the door on Wednesday morning! Click here for more information and a schedule.

National Sclerotinia Initiative Meeting Set for Next Week

NSA representatives will be attending the annual National Sclerotinia Initiative meeting on January 18-20 in Minneapolis, MN. The ARS-led Initiative supports projects aimed at neutralizing white mold’s economic threat to seven different crops; sunflower, soybean, canola, edible dry beans, chickpeas, lentils, and dry peas. The consortium of federal and state university scientists includes 10 commodity groups, and is led by the Agricultural Research Service, the USDA’s chief scientific research agency.

Yield Trials and Hybrid Disease Ratings Available Online

Yield trials are an important way for producers to look at a hybrid's performance in several locations, over several years and environments. Yield is one component of the trials. Click here to find yield trials and hybrid disease ratings for your state.

‘Cover Your Acres’ Conference is Next Week

The National Sunflower Association’s High Plains Committee is proud to be a sponsor of the 2017 ‘Cover Your Acres’ winter conference, scheduled for January 17-18 in Oberlin, KS. A research based educational conference for producers and industry. It's a conference for new ideas and updates in crop production practices relevant to the Central Plains. This is a producer driven conference program resulting from a partnership of K-State Research and Extension and the Northwest Kansas Crop Residue Alliance. To learn more, and to register, click here.

Read The Sunflower Online

Oklahoma may not be a hot spot for growing sunflower, but one producer says they are the perfect crop for his operation. Read his story in the January issue of The Sunflower magazine, now available to read on our website. The magazine also includes a look at the sunflower market outlook for 2017, a look at how a California company uses sunflower oil in their tortilla chips, and a story from North Dakota’s Red River Valley, where a family is making sunflowers work in their rotation again. Read those stories and more in this month’s magazine!

Upcoming Events

January 11-12, 2017 – NSA Research Forum, Fargo, ND
January 18-20, 2017 - NSI Meeting -Minneapolis, MN
June 27-29, 2017 – NSA Summer Seminar, Rapid City, SD

Markets

On Thursday, the USDA will issue an important monthly USDA report which will include updated US and World Supply and Demand tables, US Winter Wheat plantings, and Quarterly Stocks. In the report USDA, will release its final 2016 sunflower production estimate. The 2016 crop has had excellent quality and yields will possibly be a new record. The actual harvest results in most cases were above expectations. Many people expect the USDA will increase the overall average sunflower yield by 10% or more from their October estimate of 1,600 lbs. per acre. On the CBoT, trading has been driven by positioning ahead of this week’s USDA reports. Traders have also been talking about South American weather and how U.S. demand prospects will shape up going into the late winter, early spring time periods. Recent ample rainfall in South America is leading to concerns about increasing oilseed supplies. Rain continues to fall in parts of Argentina and Brazil, boosting prospects for crops there. Brazilian farmers are already harvesting soybeans. This could lead to countries like China to turn to South America for export purchases earlier than normal resulting in a slowdown in US soybean exports. Markets will probably trade mostly sideways until the middle, end of January until more is digested and known concerning South American weather and the USDA reports.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, January 9, 2017 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2017 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	29.08	34.57	35.27	+.70	35.50
Fargo, ND	NuSun	16.05	14.50	14.60	+.10	15.50
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	16.15	15.10	15.30	+.20	NQ
Goodland, KS	NuSun	15.75	14.35	14.60	+.25	NQ
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	16.75	15.85	16.10	+.25	NQ

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, January 9, 2017
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	27.50	32.57	33.49	+.92
Cotton Oil (psby)	44.25	42.81	43.49	+.68
Corn Oil	38.50	43.00	43.00	NC