Download Breaking Ground Sunflower Newsletter

PRESORTED
FIRST-CLASS MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
ROCHESTER, NY
PERMIT NO. 491
P.O. Box 22958
Rochester, NY 14692
Issues and Answers for Sunflower Growers
Upcoming Events
Welcome to the second edition of Breaking Ground for 2013 — a newsletter devoted to sunflower growers.
Breaking Ground will be coming to you regularly, with information about the issues you face as a grower,
opportunities to meet with your neighbors at events, and online resources to make your job easier.
Sclerotinia White
Mold – A Particular
Challenge for
Sunflower Growers
2014 NSA Research Forum
Fargo, ND
January 8–9, 2014
Come participate with FMC in the 2014 NSA Research
Forum, where reports on research will promote
discussion in the sunflower industry.
Extremely patient, devastating to
yields and particularly difficult to
manage in sunflowers, Sclerotinia
white mold has become a prime foe
of growers in the upper Great Plains.
Despite control efforts, the destructive
fungus shrugs off rescue treatments,
hides in the soil, then reappears years
later to wither flower heads and spread
inoculant all over again.
Sclerotinia’s resilience begins with
its ability to create sclerotia, the small,
black, rat dropping-like structures that
fall from infected plants. Extremely
stable, sclerotia may wait in the soil
three years or more for timely rains to
coincide with flowering. When they do,
sclerotia germinate an eraser-sized sac
that releases thousands of spores into
the canopy. Sclerotinia can attack more
than 400 plant species, but broadleaf
flowers, sunflower petals in particular,
are especially susceptible to white
mold infection.
In row crops, wider plant spacing
allows sunlight to help break down
sclerotia and wind to lower spore
density, providing some reduction
of inoculant. Among sunflowers,
(Continued inside)
How Growers Are Accessing Ag Info Online
Search/Shop Equip
This past spring, FMC polled
Breaking Ground sunflower
growers to find out what
devices growers used to
find agricultural data on the
Internet. The results showed
that while mobile devices
such as tablets are being
utilized more, traditional
computers are still the most
commonly used device for
research.
SUN_2013-2
Investing in farming’s future.
Always read and follow label directions. FMC is a trademark of FMC Corporation.
© 2013 FMC Corporation. All rights reserved. F10033-003.
Health-Minded
Consumers Build
the Market for
Sunflower Oil
While the average consumer image
of sunflowers may be as a decorative
piece or as a ballpark snack, the truth
is that only about 20 percent of U.S.
production goes to confectionary uses.
The majority of sunflowers, roughly
460,000 metric tons in 2013, will be
raised for oil and enter the consumer
market looking like almost anything
but salted seeds in a bag.
Consumer preferences, along with
the development of high
Standout uses
and mid-oleic sunflower
for sunflower oil
“Changing attitudes
varieties, have helped
include granola
continue to help open
redefine the vegetable oil
bars and coating
market. Healthier oils,
markets once dominated
of dried fruits, but
high in oleic fatty acids
it can show up
by soybean and
and low in saturated and
anywhere. While
other oils.”
trans-fats, are no longer
bottled oil for the
a niche but the industry
kitchen is still an
standard.
Modern,
non-genetically
important sunflower market, most U.S.
modified sunflower varieties combine
production finds its way into processed
these preferred traits with a neutral
foods. Thousands of products requiring
flavor profile that makes sunflower
a natural flavoring and extended shelf
oil the natural choice for many
life include high or mid-oleic sunflower
applications.
oil among their ingredients.
While sunflower oil has always
(Continued inside)
Sclerotinia White Mold
(Continued)
the dense canopy provides shade and
shelter for spores and sclerotia, which
prefer cool, damp conditions and
generally must remain densely grouped
to successfully colonize a flower. Once
Sclerotinia has colonized a plant and
developed into white mold, control
efforts are largely ineffective.
Natural resilience may eventually
become an option. Sunflower breeders
continue to work on making plants
hardier to colonization by Sclerotinia
spores, but true resistance may be long
in coming. In the more immediate
future, biological control may provide
a prevention option, though not yet
a treatment. An antagonistic fungus,
which breaks down sclerotia, has
provided preventive relief against
Sclerotinia in soybeans, dry beans
and vegetables. North Dakota State
University is currently testing this
option at its research facility in
Carrington, ND.
Always read and follow label directions. FMC is a trademark of
FMC Corporation. ©2013 FMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
F100-030606 9/13
Weeds don’t always go down easy —
sometimes it takes a one-two punch
to make way for maximum harvest
potential. That is what no-till and
conventional sunflower growers are
finding when they use BroadAxe®
herbicide for preemergence protection
from yield-robbing early season weeds.
Fungicides, of limited use across
all crops, are particularly limited in
sunflowers because of their inability
to reach downturned flower faces and
make contact with infected tissue.
So far, crop rotation remains the
best management tool for sunflower
growers. Avoiding consecutive seasons
of broadleaf crops helps limit sclerotia
carryover in areas at risk, but not yet
heavy with Sclerotinia. Heavily infected
areas require three years or more
without a broadleaf crop to clear out
residual inoculant.
Health-Minded
Consumers (Continued)
contained only trace amounts of
linolenic acid (the oil component
which contributes flavor to oil but is
often converted to trans-fat to improve
stability), traditional sunflower oil also
contains only 20 percent oleic acid, the
preferred, unsaturated oil fat. Midoleic sunflower oil, the most common
type produced in the United States,
contains 65 percent or more oleic acid.
High oleic sunflower oil contains 82
percent or more, a higher percentage
than high oleic soybean oil or olive
Investing in farming’s future.
BroadAxe® –
Two Actives
for Dominant
Control of
Broadleaves,
Grasses
Combining a trusted active
ingredient for control of Russian
thistle, Palmer amaranth,
morningglories, lambsquarters and
others, with another that is tough on
waterhemp, pigweed and foxtails,
BroadAxe provides two chemistries in
a single product which remains active
longer than either product does by itself.
oil, which has traditionally been
recognized for its healthy properties.
Changing attitudes continue to help
open markets once dominated by
soybean and other oils. Fried foods
have traditionally been one of these
exclusive markets. However, research
has shown that French fries and potato
chips prepared with sunflower oil take
on as strong a flavor and last as long as
or longer than those cooked with soy.
A number of major potato chip
makers looking to reduce or remove
trans-fats now include sunflower
oil as part of their recipe. Another
nationally recognized brand, Chipotle
restaurants, now uses sunflower oil
exclusively in their fryers, in part
because there is no such thing as
a GMO sunflower. As consumer
preferences move toward the choice of
healthier oils, the sunflower continues
to provide.
Always read and follow label directions. FMC is a trademark of
FMC Corporation. ©2013 FMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
F100-030606 9/13
Across 11 university trials conducted
in 2010 and 2011 from North Dakota
to Texas,1 BroadAxe demonstrated
99 percent control of kochia, Palmer
amaranth and Russian thistle
(including ALS-resistant varieties),
60 days after application at a rate of
25-oz/A. Among key weeds measured,
including foxtails, pigweed, common
lambsquarters and barnyardgrass,
BroadAxe consistently provided 90
percent or greater 45- to 60-day
control at 25-oz/A and 95 percent
control at 35 oz/A.
Crop safety is excellent when
applied as directed. Reduced rates of
BroadAxe are suggested on lighter
and high pH soils to avoid damage. A
flexible formulation means BroadAxe
can easily be tank-mixed with other
herbicide partners to manage the
small-seeded broadleaf and grass
component of any sunflower weed
complex.
The same studies found that the 35oz rate of BroadAxe
returned a 4,000
“Growers and
“Growers and
pound-per-acre
researchers are finding researchers are finding
yield advantage
BroadAxe a powerful
BroadAxe a powerful
over similar rates
partner for control of
partner for control of
of products using
key sunflower weeds
either active
key sunflower weeds
early on with residual
ingredient alone,
early on with residual
while the 25-oz
control into the season.” control into the season,”
said Sam Lockhart,
rate returned a
FMC Agricultural
2,000 poundSolutions technical sales
per-acre advantage.
manager. “It’s consistent across the
Best practices for BroadAxe are
weed spectrum, leaves plants open
generally simple and work with limited
for a great start that protects yield
or no-till management strategies.
potential.”
The herbicide is at its best in low or
minimum till systems with little or
no incorporation. As with similar
products, BroadAxe requires timely
rainfall – one-half to one inch – for
full activation and residual. Early
application is encouraged within the
product’s 14-day preplant and 3-day
postplant application window to
increase chances for full activation.
BroadAxe will not break down in the
sun waiting for moisture.
Always read and follow label directions. FMC and BroadAxe are
trademarks of FMC Corporation. ©2013 FMC Corporation. All
rights reserved. F100-030606 9/13
Reference
(1)Richard Zollinger, Jerry Ries, and Angela Kazmiercsak.
Sunflower Weed Control – Update and Issues. 2011. North
Dakota State University. http://www.sunflowernsa.com/
uploads/research/1173/zollinger_ppt_weed.control_12.pdf