USDA released its first sunflower production forecast for 2024 at 1.30 billion pounds, down 42 percent from the revised 2023 production of 2.26 billion pounds. Area planted, at 720,000 acres, is down 20 percent from the June estimate and down 45 percent from last year. Sunflower growers expect to harvest 691,000 acres, down 20 percent from the June forecast and down 45 percent from 2023.
The October yield forecast, at 1,889 pounds per acre, is 102 pounds higher than last year’s average yield and will represent the highest on record for the US, if realized.
The forecasted production in North Dakota, the leading sunflower-producing state this year, is 591 million pounds, a decrease of 47 percent from 2023. Compared with last year, the average yield forecast of 1,997 pounds per acre in North Dakota is down 1 pound per acre.
In South Dakota, the average yield is forecast at a record high of 1,998 pounds per acre, up 288 pounds per acre from last year.
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