Have questions about growing sunflowers? You’ll find the answers to your questions on our website! Visit www.sunflowernsa.com and click on the “Growers” section – you will find answers to frequently asked questions there as well as links to more information about many important topics, including approved chemicals, production, marketing, crop insurance, and more.

As producers gear up for planting, now is a good time to think about blackbirds and reducing the damage they could cause to this year’s sunflower crop. USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services recommends not planting sunflower in close proximity to large cattail sloughs (blackbird roosts) if at all possible. If you do plant close to cattails, consider spraying cattails with glyphosate in accordance with the label, or mowing cattails if possible. Something else to consider is developing roads or trails in larger fields (quarter or more) to allow access to the middle of fields. Birds always go to the center of the field where you can’t reach them. Trails or roads allow you many more locations and better accessibility to move blackbirds out of the field and reduce losses.  You can find more tips to reduce blackbird damage on our website: www.sunflowernsa.com/growers/black-birds/. Another good strategy to reducing blackbird damage is to plant as early as possible and desiccate the crop. In many cases, producers have been about to get the crop all harvested before the birds even move in. The earliest plant date for Minnesota is April 21. In North Dakota, it is May 6 for most counties north of Highway 200 and May 11 for the remaining counties, based on the USDA RMA early planting dates.

Nearby and new crop prices were unchanged this week at the crush plants. There is still time for producers to adjust their plans for this growing season to take advantage of the market opportunities that sunflowers can offer. Markets have been volatile for most export dependent crops with the latest twists and turns in our fast shifting trade policy. The sunflower market is mainly centered on the U.S. market. It has not faced the same market pressure and offers the opportunity to diversify market risk in these turbulent times. If you are concerned about the weather impacting yields, plants are still offering Act of God (AOG) contracts for fall delivery.  These ‘fail safe’ contracts have become very popular with farmers throughout the production region.  It provides an opportunity to ‘lock in’ attractive prices now for fall delivery and removes that all important factor of ‘yield risk’ when uncertain growing conditions exist. 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 $22.95 base contract increases to around $25.25 when adding in the oil premium.

U.S. sunflower oil exports in the first five months of the marketing year stand at 6,503 metric tons (MT) a decrease of 5,202 MT from the same time a year ago. Decreased sales to Canada and Mexico are the leading factors to the drop in exports. Canada remains the top importer of U.S. sunflower oil. From October 2025 to February 2026, Canada imported 4,714 MT of sunflower oil, compared to 6,460 MT from October 2024 to February 2025 representing a 27% decrease for the same time period. Mexico has imported 933 MT of sunflower oil so far this marketing year, which is down from 2,525 MT from the same time frame a year ago.

Registration is now open for our 2026 NSA Summer Seminar, scheduled for June 23-25, 2026. This year’s Summer Seminar will be held in Deadwood, South Dakota. You can register on our website – go to 2026 NSA Summer Seminar You’ll find our tentative schedule too, as well as hotel information and more. Pre-registration will begin at $375 and golf at $140, so register early for the best price. A block of rooms has been reserved at The Lodge under the “National Sunflower Association Conference." To reserve your room, call 605-584-4800.  The rate is $169.00 per night plus taxes for a King, Queen, King Accessible, or Queen Accessible or $199.00 per night plus taxes for a King Balcony or Queen Deluxe.  The block will expire on May 23, 2026, and regular rates will apply.  Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with questions.

June 23-25, 2026 - NSA Summer Seminar; Deadwood, SD

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