About one-third of North Dakota 2019 sunflower crop still standing

North Dakota farmers are used to harvesting sunflowers in the snow, but this year there’s more of the crop in the midst of drifts than usual.

More than one-third --- 34 percent of North Dakota’s sunflowers weren't harvested as of Dec. 31, National Agricultural Statistics-North Dakota reported. That’s the largest amount of unharvested sunflowers since at least 2000 when 12 percent of North Dakota’s sunflowers still remained in the field at the end of November, according to the statistics service.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a situation like this, but we’ve never had a fall like this, either,” said John Sandbakken, National Sunflower Association executive director.

North Dakota farmers produced 740.7 million pounds of sunflowers in 2019, eclipsing 2018 production by 1.3 million pounds, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The increase in production is the result of a 23% increase in acreage in 2019 over 2018. North Dakota farmers planted 535,000 acres of sunflowers in 2019, 99,000 more than 2018. North Dakota’s 2019 average per acre yield declined by 242 pounds to 1,518.

Sunflower farmers still are working to get their remaining acres out of the field, Sandbakken said.

“As long as you have good stalk integrity, everything should be fine,” he said. “I’ve talked to producers who have harvested in spring without a lot of yield loss,” he said.

Prices of oilseed and confection sunflowers have risen by $2 per hundredweight to about $20 during the past two months, which may be an incentive for farmers to harvest the crop this winter, Sandbakken said.

Most of the sunflowers remaining in the field are in southwest North Dakota, he said. The state’s sunflower producing area gradually has moved west as varieties that have been adapted for those areas have been developed.

Some northeast North Dakota farmers also continue to grow sunflowers, Sandbakken said.

“Grand Forks County really had a great crop, from what I understand,” he said.

North Dakota ranked second behind South Dakota in total sunflower production in 2019. South Dakota’s farmers produced 831.6 million pounds in 2019.

Minnesota ranked fourth, producing 102.6 million pounds of sunflowers in 2019. Yields averaged 1,846 pounds per acre. Most of the state's sunflowers -- 94 percent -- were harvested as of Dec. 9, National Agricultural Statistics Service Minnesota reported.