The bulk of the northern Plains sunflower crop is in good to excellent condition as the crop is blooming or poised to soon flower.
That’s despite dry conditions in some growing areas and a late planting start. Sunflowers tolerate drought conditions more than most crops and heat in June got the crop germinating and growing quickly.
“Overall, it looks really good right now,” said John Sandbakken , National Sunflower Association executive director.
In North Dakota, 60% of the sunflower crop is in good or excellent condition, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department National Association of Agricultural Statistics (NASS) crop production report for the week ending July 23, 2023. Eighty-eight percent of the South Dakota crop was in good or excellent condition and 42% of the Minnesota crop was rated good to excellent, NASS said.
Although cold, wet conditions delayed spring planting , warm weather and moisture after planting spurred sunflower development across U.S. growing regions.
“In most cases, we’re at the five-year average or slightly ahead, which is amazing, considering how late they were planted,” Sandbakken said.
In South Dakota, 1% of the sunflowers had started blooming by the week ended July 23, 2023, and in North Dakota, 12% of the crop was in bloom, according to the national Agricultural Statistics Service. The agency did not have sunflower crop progress data in its report for that time period.
North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, like farmers in most states, planted fewer sunflower acres this year.
North Dakota acreage was 625,000 in 2023, a decline of 13% from the 717,000 farmers planted in 2022, Minnesota acreage dropped from 77,500 in 2022 to 59,000 in 2023, a 24% decline, and South Dakota farmers reduced their acreage by 29% — from 625,000 in 2022 to 460,000 in 2023.
Source: agweek.com
Categories: South Dakota, Crops