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Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Mar 31 2025

North Dakota Oilseed Council Election Results

North Dakota sunflower producers Paul Boesl, Keith Meiers and Josh Greff have been re-elected to the North Dakota Oilseed Council and the NSA Board of Directors. Boesl from Langdon, ND will serve his second three-year term, representing District 1, which includes the North Dakota counties of Cavalier, Grand Forks, Nelson, Pembina, Ramsey, and Walsh. Meiers from Ross, ND will serve his second three-year term representing District 6, which includes the counties of Bottineau, Burke, Divide, Renville, McHenry, McLean, Mountrail, Ward, and Williams. Greff from Regent, ND will serve his third three-year term representing District 7, which includes the counties of Adams, Billings, Bowman, Dunn, Golden Valley, Grant, Hettinger, McKenzie, Mercer, Morton, Oliver, Sioux, Slope, and Stark.

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. Visit www.sunflowernsa.com/growers/black-birds/  for more tips to reduce blackbird damage.

Markets

Nearby prices were unchanged with new crop prices down 20 cents to unchanged this week at the crush plants. USDA released its first estimate of 2025 planted acres. Sunflower growers intend to plant 1.07 million sunflower acres in 2025, an increase of 49 percent from last year’s record low planted area. Compared with last year, growers in seven of the eight major sunflower producing states expect an increase in planted acreage this year. Area intended for oil type varieties, at 960,500 acres, is up 62 percent from 2024. Area intended for non-oil varieties, estimated at 112,000 acres, is down 12 percent from last year. The soybean planted area for 2025 is estimated at 83.5 million acres, down 4 percent from last year and near the trade’s expectation. Corn planted area for 2025 is estimated at 95.3 million acres, up 5 percent from last year. Spring wheat acreage is expected to decrease to 10.02 million acres, down 6 percent from last year, with durum decreasing 2% from last year to 2.01 million acres. The March acreage and grain stocks reports will guide the market as we head into the planting season. It will also give farmers a look at what others are thinking of planting this year and may adjust their plans. The March numbers rarely match final acreage estimates for the year. Weather always has the final say in final acreage outlays and a lot can change in the next several weeks.

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