Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Feb 21 2023

USDA to survey farmers’ planting intentions for 2023

As the 2023 crop production season begins, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will contact producers nationwide to determine their plans for the upcoming growing season. NASS will mail the survey questionnaire in February, asking producers to provide information about the types of crops they intend to plant in 2023, how many acres they intend the plant and the amounts of grain and oilseed stored on their farms. NASS encourages producers to respond online or by mail. Those producers who do not respond by the deadline may be contacted for a telephone or personal interview. Survey results will be published in the Prospective Plantings and quarterly Grain Stocks report to be released on March 31, 2023. These and all NASS reports are available online; visit www.nass.usda.gov/Publications to see the reports.

Upcoming North Dakota County Elections

Growers are invited to attend elections in their county for the sunflower representatives to the North Dakota Oilseed Council. Elections are being held in several areas in February. Here’s a list by county:

Cass County: February 22, 10:00 a.m., Cass County Annex Bison Room, Fargo
Dickey County: February 24, 1:30 p.m., NDSU Extension Office, Dickey County Courthouse, Ellendale

District elections will be held in March. For more information, visit www.oilseedcouncil.nd.gov

Resources available for producers on NSA website

As you plan for spring planting, there is helpful information on our website for producers. Visit www.sunflowernsa.com/growers to go to the growers section on our website; check out the Sunflower Production Resource Book for your area. The books provide guidelines and recommendations on production practices, pest identification, field selection and more.

Markets

At the ND crush plants old crop NuSun was unchanged to up 20 cents with new crop down 25 cents to unchanged. High oleic old crop was unchanged to up 20 cents with new crop prices unchanged last week. In the High Plains old and new crop high oleic prices were down 50 cents. The crop insurance price discovery process continues for 2023 crop insurance price elections. Oil type sunflowers are at $30.50, and confections are $32.60 per cwt. both are unchanged from last week. To follow sunflower price election trends, watch the 2023 CBoT December soyoil contract through February 28. Final price elections will be announced in early March. On the CBoT the market is bracing for a record-setting Brazilian crop that is currently being harvested. Brazil, the world's largest exporter of soybeans, is expected to produce a record 153 million metric tons of the oilseeds this year, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's up from 129.5 million metric tons the previous year. A stronger dollar has dimmed export prospects for U.S. growers as consensus grows that China will be shifting its focus away from U.S. supplies and on to the cheaper Brazilian crop. Traders continue to assess the state of Russia/Ukraine war and what it means for the Black Sea Grain Int. Negotiations on extending the Black Sea grain corridor will begin in a week. This bears watching given the volume these two countries represent for grain and oilseed exports in the global marketplace.

NSA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Anyone requesting special accommodation should notify NSA within a reasonable timeframe. NSA will accommodate reasonable requests.