Onida, SD producer Chuck Todd (photo to the right) was re-elected as NSA Board President at the NSA board meeting, held on December 3-4. Brighton, CO producer Tom Kirkmeyer will continue to serve as NSA Board Chairman. Josh Greff, producer from Regent, ND was re-elected as first vice president and Tom Dowdle, producer from Kennedy, MN was re-elected as second vice president. Lacey Zahradka of Archer Daniels Midland was re-elected as the NSA Secretary-Treasurer.

Sunflower producers and crop advisers interested in sunflower production management updates should plan to participate in the Zoom conference ‘2026 Getting-it-Right in Sunflower Production’ on Tuesday, January 13 from 8:30 a.m. to noon CST. The program will be conducted by North Dakota State University Extension and is supported by NSA. Topics that will be covered range from plant nutrient and soil management, updates for weed, disease and insect management, and sunflower marketing. Attendees will receive a list of several pertinent extension sunflower production resources as reference materials and are supplemental to the presentations. The presentations will be recorded and archived.

 Certified crop adviser continuing education credits will be available for meeting participants. Pre-registration is required at: https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/getting-it-right. This site also has video links to the previous sunflower production meeting. All who preregister will receive emailed instructions on how to participate in the meeting. The program is free of charge.

In the past week nearby prices at the ND crush plants were up 25 to 30 cents with new crop prices unchanged. USDA released the December World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report last week. Traders anticipated that any significant changes to production, stocks and usage would come in the January report. USDA did not disappoint and made no changes to the 2025/2026 U.S. soybean supply and use projections. USDA is forecasting global sunflower seed production for 2025/26 at 51.77 million metric tons (MMT) down one percent from 2024/25. Lower production in Ukraine is the leading factor for the decrease. Ukrainian sunflower production estimates remain murky due to the ongoing war, but production is anticipated to be around nineteen percent lower than 2024. The European Union and Turkey are expected to have lower than average production as well. Ending global sunflower seed stocks are expected to be 2.8 MMT, which is four percent lower than last year and thirteen percent lower than two years ago. The 2025/26 global sunflower crush is estimated to reach 47.4 MMT which is about equal to last marketing year. Global sunflower oil production is also expected to be about equal to last market year at 20 MMT. Total world sunflower oil exports are anticipated to decrease by four percent in the 2025/26 marketing year. Global sunflower oil stocks are projected to decline by a whopping fifteen percent to 2.28 MMT by the end of September 2026. This is the lowest level in many years.

Minnesota sunflower producers will have the opportunity to vote for a council member in regions 1 and 2 in February. Region 1 comprises Kittson, Roseau, Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake, Polk, Norman, Mahnomen, Clearwater, Clay and Becker counties with region 2 representing the remaining MN counties. Tom Dowdle of Kennedy, MN from region 1 and Tom Smude from Pierz, MN from region 2 are up for re-election and eligible to serve another term on the MSC. Ballots will be sent out on February 23, 2026, to sunflower producers in the MSC database. If you are not certain you are in the database and want to vote you can request a ballot by contacting Tina Mittelsteadt at 701-328-5138. The request needs to be submitted by February 11, 2026.

January 7-8, 2026 - NSA Research Forum; Holiday Inn; Fargo, ND

January 13, 2026 - Getting-it-Right in Sunflower Production Zoom Conference

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

This edition of Sunflower Highlights will be the last for 2025. We will return with the weekly newsletter on January 5, 2026. Happy holidays!

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