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Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jun 22 2020

Crop Progress

Sunflower planting is ahead of average in South Dakota, Kansas and Colorado. And in Minnesota, where sunflower planting is finished, 72% of the sunflower crop is reported in good to excellent condition. In Texas, harvest is underway, with three percent of the crop already harvested.

Crop Progress - Monday, June 22, 2020 State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average North Dakota         Planted 89 79 90 96 Emerged 64 43 69 79 South Dakota         Planted 90 72 75 81 Kansas         Planted 78 66 69 71 Colorado         Planted 86 78 68 69 Texas         Planted 77 69 97 82 Harvested 3 NA NA 23

Crop Conditions - Monday, June 22, 2020 State Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent Minnesota 2 3 23 67 5

Grower report

Crookston, MN area grower Kevin Capistran says even after a wet June, his sunflowers look better than his other crops. Capistran increased his sunflower acres this year, from 300 to about 550 acres of NuSun sunflower. He says about ¼ of his total cropland is sunflower this year. His ‘flowers are in the 2-4 leaf stage.

Syngenta Group is launched

Syngenta Group is the new name for a single entity that now encompasses four business units formed in a reorganization. They include Syngenta Crop Protection, Syngenta Seeds, ADAMA and Syngenta Group China. Syngenta Group officials say this new entity unites the strengths of Syngenta AG, headquartered in Switzerland, ADAMA, based in Israel, and the agricultural businesses of Sinochem, based in China. The new entity, headquartered in Switzerland, has 48,000 employees in more than 100 countries, and had sales of US$23 billion in 2019.

Reminder about stored seed

Producers who have stored seed are reminded to keep a close eye on seed moisture. Verify the seed moisture content is dry enough for storage at summer temperatures. The recommended long-term moisture contents are 8 percent for oil sunflower and 10 percent for confectionary sunflower. The market moisture content may be higher but storing warm grain at higher moisture contents may lead to mold growth. Mold growth and insect infestations occur rapidly at summer temperatures so stored grain should be checked every two weeks. Click here for more information on how to safely store seed.

NSA Board of Directors to meet this week

The National Sunflower Association Board of Directors will meet via conference call this week. The meeting’s focus will include crop reports, an update from Washington DC, as well as communications and international market promotion reports and funding updates.

Send us your story ideas

We are already working on the 2020-21 issues of The Sunflower and we want your help! Growers, researchers, industry members – what topics would you like us to write about? Click here to submit your ideas.

Upcoming events

August 20, 2020 NSA High Plains Committee Meeting Goodland, KS   January 13-14, 2021 NSA Research Forum Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND

Markets

Nearby and new crop prices were unchanged this week at the crush plants. 2020 new crop sunflower contracts are still available at the crush plants. Sunflower producers are in the home stretch of wrapping up this year’s planting season. Planting progress is equal to or ahead of last year at this same time in all states. In the past week, producers made excellent progress and planted an additional 188,000 acres pushing 2020 planted acres to about 1,304,000 acres. This represents 89% of this year’s projected planted acres and equal to the five-year average. On June 30, USDA will release its 2020 planted acres report. The acreage figures will necessitate careful consideration on the part of the trade because they will be based on surveys from the first two weeks of June. With this season’s difficult planting conditions in some areas, uncertainty remains about how many acres farmers will plant this year, with some fields switched from corn and others too wet to plant. Yield drag could also be an issue that is even harder for traders to assess. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor has 43.7% of the country afflicted by some level of drought, up from 38.6% a week ago. Much of the trouble spots appear west of the Mississippi River. Markets are not trading weather yet, but this bears watching as planting wraps up. Look for demand news and position squaring ahead of USDA’s acreage report to guide the market this week.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, June 22, 2020 ($/CWT)   Deliver Last Year Last Week This Week Change 2020 NEW Crop Chicago Oil Nearby 28.35 27.74 28.35 +.61 29.22 West Fargo, ND NuSun 17.60 19.55 19.55 NC 16.80 West Fargo, ND High Oleic 17.90 19.80 19.80 NC 17.00 Enderlin, ND NuSun 17.45 19.45 19.45 NC 16.80 Enderlin, ND High Oleic 17.75 19.75 19.75 NC 17.00 Goodland, KS NuSun 16.50 18.45 18.45 NC 16.80 Goodland, KS High Oleic 17.60 19.20 19.20 NC 17.80 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, June 22, 2020 (dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)   Last Year Last Week This Week Change Soybean Oil 28.65 26.24 26.85 +.61 Cotton Oil (psby) 37.38 42.74 43.35 +.61 Corn Oil 29.00 46.00 61.00 +15.00