Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jun 02 2025

Crop Progress - Monday, June 2, 2025

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Planted	59	36	47	43
Emerged	15	5	NA	NA
South Dakota
Planted	23	12	24	31
Kansas
Planted	23	14	20	24
Minnesota
Planted	79	61	60	65
Colorado
Planted	35	27	26	27
Texas
Planted	36	30	46	50

Cutworms Emerging

Cutworms were reported in the southwestern area of North Dakota feeding on canola. Now is a good time to scout field crops for cutworm feeding injury before economic feeding injury occurs. Crops are most susceptible during the early crop stages - seedling to 6-leaf stage. Cutworm feeding can be noted by defoliation, or cut and wilted plants, leading to bare patches in the field. Few plants can be lost to cutworm feeding if the plant population is below the recommended established stand. The greater the plant population, the more damage can be tolerated without economic yield loss. When spraying insecticides for cutworm control, applications should be made in the evening when cutworms feed actively. Wet soil conditions will also improve insecticide efficacy, as cutworms feed near the soil surface. Rescue foliar treatments are warranted for sunflower when cutworms exceed the treatment threshold of 1 per square foot or 25-30% of plants cut. Insecticides are ideally targeted at the young larvae (less than ¾ inch) which are easier to kill than the large larvae (greater than 1 inch).

Markets

Old crop sunflower prices were down 50 cents to up 15 cents with new crop unchanged this week. October new crop prices are trading in a range of $21.90-$22.40 cash with AOG at $21.40-$21.90 at the crush plants. Deferred new crop contracts are offering premiums above these prices. Something else to consider when looking at new crop prices are the oil premiums that crush plants pay on sunflowers. 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. Sunflower planting continues in all states and is slightly ahead of the five-year averages in Colorado, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Kansas, South Dakota, and Texas are slightly behind the five-year average planting pace. In the past week, producers made excellent progress and planted an additional 175,250 acres pushing 2025 planted acres to about 464,000 acres. This represents 45% of this year’s projected planted acres and is ahead of the five-year average of 36%. Last year at this same time 35% of total projected acres were planted. In the next two weeks weather conditions are expected to be favorable for planting with above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. Sunflower planting should pick up speed as growers across the U.S. finish sowing activities.

Registration Continues for 2025 NSA Summer Seminar

Registration continues for the 2025 NSA Summer Seminar, scheduled for June 24-26, 2025. This year’s Summer Seminar will be held in Bismarck, North Dakota. You can register on our website – go to 2025 NSA Summer Seminar. You’ll find our schedule as well as hotel information and more. The program has been finalized and is on the website. Registration is $400 and golf at $160 and will increase at the door. To make your hotel reservation, call 701-255-6000 opt 2 for guest services. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with questions.

Plenty of Time to Plant Sunflowers

As the optimal planting window is closing on some crops, there is still time to take advantage of the market opportunities that sunflowers can offer. Seed supplies are still plentiful and there is still time to place an order to put in some acres this growing season. Sunflowers can be planted until late June in the Dakotas. The final planting dates for crop insurance purposes for sunflower vary by state and county. In North Dakota it is either June 10 or 15; South Dakota is June 15 or 20 and all of Minnesota is June 10. After these dates, the coverage is reduced by only 1 percent per day. The actual final date that sunflowers can be planted is anywhere from 20 to 25 days after this date depending on the county. To find the final planting date by county use this link: Crop Insurance (sunflowernsa.com)

Upcoming Events

June 24-26, 2025 - NSA Summer Seminar; Bismarck, ND

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, June 2, 2025 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2025 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	44.14	49.57	46.23	-3.34	47.27
West Fargo, ND	High Oleic	16.00	28.50	28.65	+.15	22.40
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	15.80	28.00	28.00	NC	22.40
Lamar, CO	High Oleic	16.20	28.50	28.00	-.50	21.75

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Monday, June 2, 2025
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. locations)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	47.14	48.57	45.23	-3.34
Cotton Oil (pbsy)	69.14	74.57	71.23	-3.34
Corn Oil	55.00	49.00	49.00	NC

Prices recorded here are believed to be reliable at the time of posting. Individual companies have the right to correct any errors that may occur. Contact these facilities for complete market details.

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