In December, Fred Parnow had a tough job.
By mid-January that job had become much easier, although it’s still a struggle to convince farmers to grow sunflowers.
What changed?
Prices.
Since early December sunflower prices have shot up about 20 percent, from less than 20 cents per pound for oilseed sunflowers and 25 cents for confectionary to 24 cents for oilseed and 30 cents for confectionary.
These are record prices for both types of sunflowers, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy to buy more production. Sunflowers have to fight for acreage with wheat and canola across the North Dakota-Manitoba sunflower belt, and each of those commodities is also offering historically high prices.
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The yield estimates for wheat and soybeans were neutral to bullish, but these were largely a sideshow when compared with corn.
“All the commodities are fighting for that same acre,” said Parnow, who promotes sunflower seed for Seeds 2000, a leading sunflower seed provider.
Sunflower prices had badly lagged the rally of most other commodities until the end of December, but Parnow was relieved to see sunflower prices rise just before the crucial Manitoba Ag Days show, the biggest farm show in the Canadian sunflower belt.
“It lagged until about two weeks ago, and then has just gone wild,” said Parnow.
Sunflowers are often used as a disease-breaking rotation crop. That gives the crop a good fit, but in times of great prices for wheat, soybeans and canola, it can also be skipped. Parnow fears that wheat will seem more attractive to some sunflower growers in the oilseed zone.
“In the western two-thirds of North Dakota it’s just nuts on wheat,” said Parnow, who is based in Crookston, Minnesota.
The way to promote sunflowers, he said, is to focus on both the crop’s agronomic strength and its marketing advantages.
It can be cheaper to grow than shallow seeded crops like wheat because its deep taproot can burrow down to reach the nitrogen stranded 12 to 24 inches in the soil. Because of that, it can get by with 70 percent of the nitrogen fertilizer required for a crop like wheat, he said.
A farmer growing sunflowers on contract has another advantage most crops don’t provide: real act-of-god clauses. Farmers who face a weather disaster don’t get stuck holding the bag and trying to fill it from high priced commercial stocks.
“The best thing about sunflowers is the act-of-god clause. It’s phenomenal,” said Parnow.
Mike Marion, the general manager of Sabourin Seeds in St. Jean Baptiste, Man., said he now thinks sunflowers will hold their acres from last year.
“The most (drop) I could see is 10 percent down,” said Marion, who until recently expected to see a large acreage decline.
“All crops are good, but I think the way that (sunflower) prices have bounced up, we’ll see those acres stay up about where they were last year.”
Parnow agreed.
“I think we’ll be equal with ’07,” he said.
