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Sunflower Briefs

Tuesday, October 20, 2020
filed under: Sunflower Briefs

USDA Foresees 44% Hike in Crop Size vs. 2019
       USDA released its first production estimate for the 2020 sunflower crop on October 9 and also made some adjustments for the 2019 crop.
       The first production forecast for 2020 is 2.81 billion lbs, up 44% from the revised 2019 production level of 1.96 billion lbs — and is the highest since 2015. Area planted, at 1.70 million acres, is up 10% from the June estimate and up 26% from last year. Sunflower growers are expected to harvest 1.62 million acres, up 10% from the June forecast and up 29% from 2019. Acreage updates were made in several states based on a thorough review of all available data.
       The October yield forecast, at 1,730 lbs/ac, is 170 pounds higher than last year’s yield and will be just one pound less than the record high average yield for the nation, if realized. As of October 1, higher yields were expected in five of the eight published states compared with last year, with decreases expected only in California, Minnesota and Texas.
       The forecast production in North Dakota, the leading sunflower-producing state this year, is 1.23 billion lbs, an increase of 64% from 2019. Compared with last year, the average yield forecast in North Dakota is up 245 lbs/ac and will be the highest yield on record, if realized. In South Dakota, the average yield is forecast at 1,867 lbs/ac, up 173 lbs from last year and the second highest yield on record, if realized.
       The next estimate of the 2020 U.S. sunflower crop will be released in January 2021.

USDA CFAP2 Payment Info for Sunflower
       USDA released details on the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 (CFAP2) in September.  Payments will be based on 2020 planted acres of the crop, excluding prevented plant acres.
Payments for sunflower will be the greater of: 1) the eligible acres multiplied by a payment rate of $15 per acre; or 2) the eligible acres multiplied by a nationwide crop marketing percentage, multiplied by a crop-specific payment rate, and then by the producer’s weighted 2020 Actual Production History (APH) approved yield. If the APH is not available, 85% of the 2019 Agriculture Risk Coverage-County Option (ARC-CO) benchmark yield for that crop will be used. Marketing percentage and payment rate for sunflower are 44% and $0.02 per pound. Signup will began September 21 and runs through December 11, 2020. Click here for more information.

Advanced Sunflower Receives SBA Award
       Advanced Sunflower LLC, headquartered in Huron, S.D., and its CEO, Danny Dale, were honored recently by the U.S. Small Business Administration as Small Business Exporter of the Year. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration South Dakota District Office held a virtual awards ceremony to honor the top small business winners throughout the state.

Canadian Sunflower Production Estimate
       Canadian farmers planted about 100,000 acres of sunflower in 2020, according to industry estimates. Historically, Manitoba accounts for 85-90% of the total each year. The 2020 sunflower acreage is up significantly from the 55,900 acres planted the previous year and is the highest since 2015.  Statistics Canada estimates 2020 production at 95,100 metric tons (MT), which compares with the 62,900 MT produced in 2019 and the five-year average of 60,200 MT.
       Canadian growers’ plant both oil-type and confection sunflower. Recently, more acreage expansion has been seen in oil-types. This represents a shift from previous history, as confections had accounted for most Canadian sunflower acres.

Call for Papers: Sunflower Research Forum
       The National Sunflower Association is inviting research papers for presentation at the 2021 Sunflower Research Forum, which will be held virtually via Zoom, due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, on January 13 and 14, 2021.
       Presentations may be either oral or in the form of a poster. A time will be designated for authors to present their posters and answer questions. Each oral presentation will be limited to 10-12 minutes with 2-3 minutes allowed for questions.
       Those interested in presenting at the Forum can submit their application by clicking here. Presenters do not need to submit the actual paper or poster at this time; just the information indicated online and the author information. Submissions must be completed by no later than November 13.

Production Resource Books
         As sunflower producers wrap up the 2020 season and look ahead toward 2021, they can find helpful information on the National Sunflower Association website. Click here for the growers section of the website and check out the production research book for your area.  The books provide guidelines and recommendations on field selection, a variety of production practices, pest identification and more topics of interest.