Onida, S.D., farmer Chuck Todd is no stranger to sunflowers. In the 1980s, before returning to the farm and growing the crop himself, he was an agronomist and sales manager for a company that sold sunflowers. He’s seen acreage of the crop rise and fall through the years.
But like other producers in the state, he’s watched South Dakota ‘flower production surpass that of North Dakota, traditionally the nation’s leading producer of the crop, for three straight years
“It’s been a good crop in the central and west (of South Dakota),” Todd says, noting that farmers in eastern South Dakota generally grow soybeans rather than sunflowers.
Credit good yields for South Dakota’s ascendancy to the top spot in sunflower production in 2013-2015. North Dakota farmers planted more acres of the crop, but strong yields in South Dakota enabled its farmers to harvest more bushels overall.
“Sunflower is such a good fit for the climate of South Dakota. And the yields have been good, just phenomenal in 2015,” thanks to favorable weather, says John Sandbakken, executive director of the Mandan, N.D.-based National Sunflower Association.
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South Dakota produced 1.2 billion pounds of sunflowers, compared with 1.1 billion for its northern sibling, even though North Dakota farmers harvested about 40,000 more acres. South Dakota’s record average yield of 1,858 pounds per acre more than offset the fewer harvested acres.
South Dakota farmers planted an estimated 605,000 acres of sunflowers, 25,000 fewer than their North Dakota counterparts, so South Dakota won’t retain the top spot unless it again enjoys higher yields
In any case, South Dakota and North Dakota dominate U.S. sunflower production. Minnesota, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, California and Oklahoma, which hold the third through ninth spots, respectively, collectively produced only half as many pounds of sunflowers as South Dakota in last year.
South Dakota’s sunflower industry is helped by its strong presence in the national bird seed market. Todd estimates at least half of sunflower production in central South Dakota is tied to the bird seed market.
South Dakota sunflower producers, like their peers in other states, are helped by the strong popularity of sunflower oil, which consumers appreciate as healthy, Sandbakken says.
