Sunflowers could be a bright spot in agriculture this year, both in terms of price and production for many of the Manitoba farmers growing the crop.
Despite challenges with excess moisture earlier in the year, the crop is poised to deliver decent yields, and prices for confectionary seed are profitable.
“It’s one of those crops that is still hanging in there,” said Manitoba Agriculture provincial oilseeds specialist Rob Park. “A couple of months ago, or a month ago, I wouldn’t have given you two cents for them. I had them pegged as a crop insurance writeoff.
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“Today the crop looks like it has the potential to be an average crop, which is ahead of canola, ahead of flax and ahead of a whole bunch of other commodities that have taken a big hit (in Manitoba) this year.”
Citing rough estimates, Park said there probably were about 175,000 acres of sunflowers planted in Manitoba this year, most of them confectionary varieties. In a more typical year, more than 200,000 acres of sunflowers are grown in the province.
A lot of growers have contracts to sell confectionary sunflowers at about 20 cents a pound, which Park considers a good average price. He anticipates prices will also be in that range for crop coming off this fall that was not grown under contract.
The smaller sunflower crop in Manitoba this year will have some bearing on price, Park said, but the effects of a poor crop last year have also supported the good price prospects.
“The overriding factor is that we ended last year with basically nothing in the bins, so good quality sunflowers will probably get about 20 cents this year,” Park said.
There is still carryover from last year’s confectionary crop in Manitoba, but its poorer quality prompted buyers to look outside the country.
Grant Fehr of Keystone Grain Ltd. at Winkler, Man., said disease is one of the few things that could set the sunflower crop back. The drier weather of recent weeks has helped reduce that threat.
“I would prefer for it to stay dry,” said Fehr, purchasing manager of Keystone Grain, a company that buys and markets sunflower seed. “If it stays dry we’re going to have an excellent crop.”
In a good year of production, confectionary sunflower yields in Manitoba average 1,500-1,600 pounds per acre. The crop is processed domestically to serve primarily the snack food market in North America.
Most of the oilseed varieties grown in Manitoba go into the birdseed market. Mike Marion of Sabourin Seed Service Ltd. at St. Jean Baptiste, Man., said it looks as though prices for the new crop will be about 15 cents a lb. for the oils. Like Fehr, his main concern is whether the sunflower crop can make it through to harvest without disease pressure brought on by rains.
“I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping the weather holds like we’re getting right now,” Marion said.
“If it does, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Saskatchewan also grows sunflowers, primarily the oilseed varieties. Marion said the crop there is looking at least as good as Manitoba’s.
Park continues to promote sunflowers as a crop with potential for expansion into southwestern Manitoba. Over the long term the crop has served growers well in terms of profitability, he said.
