Sunflower Highlights
Post Date: Jul 24 2023
Crop Progress - Monday, July 24, 2023
State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average
North Dakota        
Blooming 12 1 13 17
South Dakota        
Blooming 1 -- -- --
Texas        
Harvested NA 18 24 24
Crop Conditions - Monday, July 24, 2023
State Timeframe Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
North Dakota This week 1 4 35 57 3
  Last week 1 3 44 49 3
Minnesota This week 0 1 16 79 4
  Last week 0 0 23 74 3
Colorado This week 0 0 9 70 21
  Last week 0 1 5 76 18
South Dakota This week 1 9 48 40 2
  Last week 2 7 46 43 2
RSSW Management Workshop
NDSU and SDSU will host a joint workshop focused on red sunflower seed weevil (RSSW) management at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre, SD on August 10 at 1PM CDT. The workshop will provide information on biology, scouting and alternative pest management options - early planting of sunflowers to reduce RSSW damage to seeds. In addition, information will be provided from insecticide field efficacy trials for labeled and non-labeled foliar insecticides for RSSW control. Dakota Lakes Research Farm is located 17 miles east of Pierre on Highway 34.
Scout for insects
Red sunflower seed weevils are emerging in North Dakota and South Dakota in a few early planted sunflower fields. Start scouting as soon as sunflowers are in the R4 (bud open ray flower visible) to R5.1 (early flower - florets around the outer perimeter of the sunflower head). Banded sunflower moth continues to be trapped in pheromone traps with higher densities in southeast and east central areas of North Dakota. Other trapping sites are generally low. No sunflower head moth was trapped. A few Arthuri sunflower moths were trapped at three locations. IPM maps of insect pests and diseases are posted on: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ndipm
Markets
On the CBoT, prices pushed higher last week after Russia not only let a Black Sea shipping deal expire, they also actively attacked Ukrainian ports. Old crop sunflower prices increased 5 to 20 cents and new crop sunflower prices increased 40 to 65 cents at the ND crush plants following the gains in other commodities. Recent events have the fate of Black Sea exports more in doubt right now than perhaps they have ever been. Russia’s Defense Ministry says it will consider any shipping vessels in the Black Sea heading to Ukrainian ports as possibly carrying military cargo. As such, Russia is warning that portions of the Black Sea’s international waters are now unsafe for navigation. Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of sunflower seed and oil and typically sends most of its exports through that corridor. The reduced availability to Ukrainian sunflower seed and oil production poses risks for global markets as prices will remain volatile and responsive to potential production shortfalls. Last week USDA issued its initial outlook for 2023 sunflower production and usage for the 2023/24 marketing year. Oil-type sunflower planted acreage is expected to be lower in 2023. Given the lower acreage, oil-type sunflower production was reduced this month by 35 million pounds to 2 billion pounds. In contrast, confection sunflower seed production increased to 266 million pounds this month due to higher planted area. In October, USDA will provide an updated estimate for oil and confection sunflower production.
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