North Dakota Number One in Sunflowers

One can add to the list of North Dakota firsts: sunflowers.

North Dakota leads the pack with its sunflower acreage, says the marketing director for the National Sunflower Association (NSA).

North Dakota has 865,000 acres of sunflowers this year, which is 98 percent of last year’s national acreage. South Dakota is second in sunflower production, behind North Dakota with 630,000 acres.

There has been a growth in acreage in the midwest regions of North Dakota, Majkrzak said. These regions have been producing the best crops over the past years, he added. What was once a very dry environment in this region has become a great growing region for sunflowers due to slightly increased rain fall, he adds.

According to the NSA, sun oil is up 58 percent over last year’s level for the first eight months of this marketing season. This rise is due to a decline in Canadian imports.

North Dakota is also number one in honey production for those who may have forgotten.