Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Oct 30 2017

Crop Progress

Wintry conditions arrived in Minnesota last week, but despite the weather, producers made good progress on the sunflower harvest: 79 percent of the state's sunflower crop is report harvested, that's just slightly ahead of the five year average of 76 percent.

Crop Progress - Monday, October 30, 2017

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Harvested	57	32	51	51
South Dakota
Harvested	51	32	71	59
Minnesota
Harvested	79	51	78	76
Colorado
Harvested	30	13	61	57
Kansas
Bracts Yellow	97	91	97	----
Mature	91	81	89	90
Harvested	42	17	48	48
Texas
Harvested		69

Crop Conditions - Monday, October 30, 2017

State	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	6	13	36	43	2
South Dakota	3	22	44	25	6
Colorado	2	5	15	57	21
Kansas	1	5	33	52	9

Grower Report

Sharon, ND producer Ben Vig says sunflower harvest is just about complete in eastern North Dakota. Vig says that’s especially good news considering the area was covered with a small dusting of snow this morning. He says sunflower yields were good; he reports some white mold at the end of the growing season, but says he didn’t affect the crop much.

NSA Receives Specialty Crop Grants

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture has awarded the National Sunflower Association $118,996 to apply genomic tools to accelerate breeding for disease resistance in confection sunflower. In addition, $55,452 was awarded to NDSU for optimizing the deployment of foliar fungicides for managing Sclerotinia head rot in confection sunflowers. The money is a part of 29 grants the Agricultural Marketing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved totaling over $2.2 million given to promote the development, cultivation, production, and sales of specialty crops in North Dakota.

Call for Papers

There’s still time to submit your research paper to present at the NSA’s Research Forum, set for January 10-11, 2018 in Fargo, ND. Presentations may be oral or in the form of a paper. Click here to get more information and submit your application online at . Submissions must be completed by November 15, 2017.

Seed Quality

High Plains	2017	2016
Oil Content	41.3%	41.0%
Foreign Material	5.8%	7.2%
Moisture	9.3%	8.1%
Test Weight	29.4 lbs	31.0 lbs
Northern Plains	2017	2016
Oil Content	43.4%	43.5%
Foreign Material	4.8%	4.3%
Moisture	8.9%	9.7%
Test Weight	30.8 lbs	30.9 lbs

Upcoming Events

December 5-6, 2017 - Ag Horizons, Pierre, SD
December 6, 2017 – High Plains Committee Meeting, Goodland, KS
January 10-11, 2018 – NSA Research Forum, Fargo, ND
June 26-28, 2018 – NSA Summer Seminar, Arrowwood Resort, Alexandria, MN

Markets

Sunflower prices at the crush plants ended the week mixed at down 15 to up 25 cents. Birdfood prices continue to see little movement after large purchases were made in August/September taking care of current needs. Oilseed prices in general are having trouble bucking the narrative of an ample US harvest that’s currently underway. This plus sufficient seed supplies in the pipeline has led to some nearby resistance for any significant rally in sunflower prices. In the past week, producers harvested an additional 263,000 acres pushing 2017 harvested acres to almost 664,000 acres. This represents 53% of this year’s projected harvested acres and is slightly behind the five-year average. Seed quality remains generally very good. Yields are being reported in the 1,500-2,500 pound range with some reports over 3,500 pounds in areas not impacted by this summer’s drought. Drought impacted areas are still reporting yields closer to 1,000 pounds per acre. 2018 new crop prices are starting to roll out as well. The Cargill crush plant is offering NuSun cash at $18.00 per cwt. and Act of God (AOG) contracts at $17.00. High Oleic contracts are being offered as well with cash at $18.25 and AOG at $17.25. ADM Enderlin is offering $18.20 cash contracts for NuSun and High Oleic. Something else to consider is the oil premiums that crush plants pay on sunflower for oil content above 40%.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, October 30, 2017 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2017 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	35.17	34.63	34.64	+.05	35.08
Fargo, ND	NuSun	15.10	17.00	17.20	+.20	18.00
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	15.20	16.90	17.15	+.25	18.20
Goodland, KS	NuSun	14.80	17.00	16.85	-.15	NQ
Goodland, KS	High Oleic	16.80	18.00	17.85	-.15	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, October 30, 2017
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	33.67	32.13	32.18	+.05
Cotton Oil (psby)	45.17	33.63	33.58	+.05
Corn Oil	45.50	37.50	37.50	NC