Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Apr 21 2025

NSA Website Provides Helpful Information for Producers

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.

Reducing Blackbird Damage

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.

Markets

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 $22.70 base contract increases to around $25.00 when adding in the oil premium.

Sunflower Oil Exports Have Slight Increase

U.S. sunflower oil exports in the first five months of the marketing year stand at 11,705 metric tons (MT) a slight increase of 660 MT from the same time a year ago. Canada has decreased imports but remains the top importer of U.S. sunflower oil. From October 2024 to February 2025, Canada imported 6,460 MT of sunflower oil, compared to 8,103 MT from October 2023 to February 2024 representing a 20% decrease for the same time period. Increased sales to Mexico and Malaysia are the leading factors to the rise in exports. The two countries have imported 3,768 MT of sunflower oil so far this marketing year, which is up from 689 MT from the same time frame a year ago.

Registration is now open for our 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 tentative schedule too, as well as hotel information and more. Pre-registration will begin at $375 and golf at $130, so register early for the best price. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Radisson Hotel Bismarck. To reserve your room, call 701-255-6000 or online https://www.choicehotels.com/reservations/groups/du92l1. The rate is $129.00 per night plus taxes. The block of rooms will expire on May 23, 2025. The program is being finalized and more information will be coming soon. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with questions.

Upcoming Events

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

Markets at a Glance

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, April 21, 2025 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2025 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	45.04	46.32	47.78	+1.46	47.74
West Fargo, ND	High Oleic	13.75	26.50	26.50	NC	22.55
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	14.20	26.20	26.20	NC	22.70
Lamar, CO	High Oleic	16.00	26.50	26.50	NC	23.50

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Monday, April 21, 2025
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. locations)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	48.04	45.32	46.78	+1.46
Cotton Oil (pbsy)	70.04	71.32	72.78	+1.46
Corn Oil	59.00	46.00	49.00	+3.00

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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