Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Aug 29 2022

Crop Progress - Monday, August 29, 2022

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Petals Dry	35	3	56	51
Bracts Yello	15	--	23	21
Texas
Harvested	NA	46	47	43

Crop Conditions - Monday, August 29, 2022

State	Timeframe	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	This week	0	3	23	65	9
	Last week	0	3	23	70	4
Minnesota	This week	0	0	16	76	8
	Last week	0	0	11	85	4
Colorado	This week	6	8	45	38	3
	Last week	4	5	40	47	5

Benefits of desiccation

Now is a great time to start thinking about desiccating your sunflower crop. Getting the crop harvested several weeks early can result in higher yields and lower drying costs. Late season crop damage and blackbird damage can be reduced, and desiccation may also slow down head diseases such as Sclerotinia. Early dry down can also minimize artificial drying costs. September and the first half of October harvest can often allow the use of air-drying to lower seed moisture in storage. Visit Desiccant Considerations (sunflowernsa.com) to learn more about desiccation.

Grower report

Hutchinson, Kansas producer Cameron Peirce says that his moisture condition is terrible. Any possibility of rain just passes them by. He has not had any disease issues. Head moth is the only insect he has had issues with this summer. His full season sunflowers are mature and just about ready for desiccation. Due to lack of rain, his double crop sunflowers are not looking good.

Markets

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) released its initial reported acre figures last week for all crops. Oil-type sunflower planted acreage was pegged at 1.53 million acres with non-oil acres at 136,824. In July, the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) contacted respondents in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota who reported acreage as not yet planted to verify planted acreage for several crops including sunflower. NASS adjusted some crops but left planted area estimates for oil-type sunflower at 1.54 million acres and non-oil sunflower at 123,000 acres both unchanged from the June report figures. FSA will update the acreage report in mid-September. USDA will provide their initial yield and production estimates for the 2022 oil-type and confection sunflower crop in October. Contracts for 2023 crop production have started to roll out earlier than normal at the crush plants. NuSun is in a range of $23.50-$25.75 with high oleics at $26.00-$26.75. Something else to consider 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 NuSun $23.50 contract increases to $25.85, and the $26.75 contract moves up to $29.40.

USDA Provides Help with Blackbirds

Sunflowers are blooming and it is never too early to think about blackbird control. Local birds cause a large amount of damage as petals begin to dry and drop (R6 stage). Be proactive early on to minimize seed loss, do not wait for the buildup of large flocks. USDA Wildlife Services personnel can help North Dakota and South Dakota producers who have blackbird problems, call 701-355-3300. Some other ways to reduce damage include cattail management, cannons, harassment, desiccants, and repellants. These tools are even more effective when used together. For more on blackbirds, visit Blackbirds (sunflowernsa.com)

NSA Website Sunflower Disease Section Updated

Members of the Sunflower Pathology Working Group (Sam Markell, Bob Harveson, Febina Mathew, Sue Thompson, Mal Ryley, Charlie Block and Tom Gulya) recently updated the sunflower disease section of the NSA website. This section identifies many of the diseases such as Downy mildew, rust, Phomopsis stem canker, and Sclerotinia diseases (white mold) affecting sunflower and provides information about the disease, its impact, and control measures. The update was made possible by support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Crop Protection and Pest Management Program through the North Central IPM Center. You can check it out here: https://www.sunflowernsa.com/growers/Diseases/)

Upcoming Events

January 11-12, 2023 - NSA Research Forum; Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND
June 27-29, 2023 - NSA Summer Seminar; Spearfish, SD

Markets at a Glance

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, August 29, 2022 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2022 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	60.28	68.77	70.98	-2.21	66.44
West Fargo, ND	NuSun	31.70	27.00	26.65	-.35	26.65
West Fargo, ND	High Oleic	31.70	32.40	27.90	-4.50	27.90
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	31.70	27.00	26.85	-.15	26.85
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	31.70	32.25	27.85	-4.40	27.85
Lamar, CO	High Oleic	29.75	33.50	28.25	-5.25	28.00

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Monday, August 29, 2022
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. locations)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	85.28	77.77	79.98	-2.21
Cotton Oil (pbsy)	98.28	118.77	120.98	-2.21
Corn Oil	84.00	131.00	131.00	NC

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.

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