Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Apr 17 2023

Registration is now open for our 2023 NSA Summer Seminar, scheduled for June 27-29, 2023. This year’s Summer Seminar will be held in Spearfish, South Dakota. You can register on our website – go to 2023 NSA Summer Seminar (sunflowernsa.com). You’ll find our tentative schedule too, as well as hotel information and more. Pre-registration will begin at $325 and golf at $130, so register early for the best price. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Spearfish Holiday Inn and Conference Center. To reserve your room, call 605-642-4683 or Hotel in Spearfish | Holiday Inn Spearfish-Convention Center Hotel (ihg.com) using the group code NSA. The rate is $129.99 per night plus taxes for Standard Rooms and $159.99 per night plus taxes for Suites. The block of rooms will expire on May 27, 2023. The program is being finalized and more information will be coming soon. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with questions.

Reducing Blackbird Damage

A good strategy to reducing blackbird damage is to plant as early as possible and desiccate the crop. In many cases, producers have been about to get the crop all harvested before the birds even move in. The earliest plant date for Minnesota is April 21. In North Dakota, it is May 6 for most counties north of Highway 200 and May 11 for the remaining counties, based on the USDA RMA early planting dates. Why take a chance when it comes to blackbirds when you can have a good sunflower crop? Maximize your return by planting early and getting the crop harvested as soon as possible.

Oil Premium Paid at Crush Plants

Something else to consider when making final planting decisions is the oil premiums that crush plants pay on sunflower. Sunflower is the only oilseed that pays premiums for oil content above 40%. Considering oil premiums that are offered at the crush plants on oil content above 40% at a rate of 2% price premium for each 1% of oil above 40%; this pushes a contract with 45% oil content gross return 10% higher per cwt. The AOG $23.45 contract increases to $25.80, and the cash $25.15 contract moves up to $27.65. See for yourself how the oil premium can add to the bottom line by going to: Oil Premium Calculator (sunflowernsa.com)

Markets

Nearby and new crop prices were unchanged this week at the crush plants. USDA released the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report last week. To the surprise of market analysts, USDA made no changes to U.S. corn and soybean supply numbers from the March report. The WASDE report pegged the U.S. 2022/2023 corn ending stocks at 1.342 billion bushels, reflecting no change from March. This is above the trade’s estimate of 1.319 billion bushels. For soybeans, the U.S. ending stocks were pegged at 210 million bushels, in line with the March estimate and above the trade’s expectation of 198 million bushels. USDA pegged the U.S. wheat ending stocks at 598 million bushels, an increase from March’s estimate of 568 million bushels and above the trade’s expectation of 574 million bushels. Per USDA, Brazil’s bin busting soybean production increased with Argentina’s drought plagued production decreasing further from their March estimate. In the sunflower production region, the deep snowpack in North Dakota and Minnesota is likely to delay planting of early season crops beyond optimal planting dates. In addition, below normal temperatures with above normal precipitation are forecast to linger the rest of this month. Late season planted crops like sunflower are a good option to replace these crops and can perform well and markets will reward that production. With lower than anticipated acres, diversifying market risk with some sunflower acres would be a good option in 2023.