Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
On a recent cold Saturday in November, a dozen brave riders sat on their horses, herding 100 cows back from pasture along the Qu’Appelle Valley. In the background, fields of brown, frozen sunflower still awaited harvest.
“Sunflowers have a reputation as a crop you harvest in November or December after the snow flies,” explains Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) Crop Development Specialist Elaine Moats, “and yet, under normal conditions, sunflowers are off earlier than that. They are a pretty dependable money-making crop, which is perhaps the most important characteristic of sunflowers.”
Moats and industry partners are getting ready for a one-of-a-kind seminar on January 24 and 25 at the Heritage Inn in Moose Jaw called Sunflower: The Big Picture Crop. “We called it that because we believe sunflowers have a bigger role to play in crop production and value-added agriculture in Saskatchewan than they have been given credit for.”
One of the obstacles sunflower growers face in Saskatchewan, Moats points out, is market access.
“Most of the sunflowers grown in Saskatchewanat this time are intended for the birdseed market, and sold into southern Alberta, North Dakota or Manitoba. We have a few processors—the biggest one is Monty Bergquist’s Sun Country Farms at Langham—producing snack-food sunflower seeds. We probably harvested about 35,000 acres of sunflowers this past growing season in Saskatchewan.
“Originally, most of the sunflowers we grew were crushed for cooking oil. There was a crusher in Manitoba as well as the United States. But with the strengthening of the canola industry, we don’t have any sunflower crushers in Canada anymore,” explains Moats...“Certainly, the snack-food market for the hulled sunflower seeds and the birdseed market are very big markets. One of the largest confection processors in Canada is Spitz Sunflower Seeds based out of southern Alberta.”
Moats believes the seminar will provide useful information to growers, potential new producers and people who are looking for ways to market their sunflowers differently.
“We will be providing information on improved ways of growing sunflower, whether it is in terms of weed control, timing of seeding, or other factors that will allow producers to get a good quality crop off the field a little bit earlier. It is important to know that we don’t have any plant breeders in Canada, and virtually all the seed is imported from the United States. There are new developments in seed treatment and disease control that are significant because some seed treatments are not allowed in Canada."
The seminar will feature a presentation by the director of the Canadian National Sunflower Association, Mel Reimer, who will bring participants up to date on developments on the Canadian scene.
“There a couple of sunflower roasters in Manitoba that he will tell us about,” says Moats, “and there are opportunities with China in the sunflower business. The NuSun market class has the mid-oleic oil profile and is in strong demand from the cooking oil industry. Commercial processors use NuSun oil in their deep fryers because of its cooking properties. Not only is it a healthier oil, but it also remains stable longer under the higher temperatures used in the food processing industry.”
Cliff Powlowski, the Variety Testing Co-ordinator for Saskatchewan, will provide an update on his results that are printed in the grain variety guide every year.
“There is also some new work on herbicides that are registered or coming down the pipe that SAF Provincial Weed Control Specialist Clerk Brenzil will tell us about. SAF Plant Disease Specialist Penny Pearse is going to talk about new fungicide registrations. SAF Insect/Pest Management Specialist Scott Hartley will talk about some of the insect concerns, as insect pressures vary from year to year, Moats says.
“Bill May is doing research on yield and adaptation, comparing sunflower and flax to other crops like mustard. Monty Bergquist of Sun Country Farms exports a wide variety of bird food mixes that include sunflower seeds. He asks questions like: is there room for small crushers or de-hullers? He has put a lot of thought into the new uses for sunflower seeds,” Moats points out.
Also, Vern Racz and Dave Christensen of Prairie Feed Resource Centre will elaborate on where sunflower seeds fit in beef or dairy cattle feeding programs.
“When you add sunflower seed to the ration, it affects the feed intake of the cattle, which has an impact on the cost of the ration,” according to Moats. “It affects the conjugated linoleic acid level in both the milk and meat, and therefore could potentially make the milk and the meat healthier, which would bring about significant marketing advantages.”
Moats and her colleagues invite everyone interested in sunflowers to take a second look at “The Big Picture Crop.”
For more information, contact:
Elaine Moats
Crop Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 848-2856
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