Growers have plenty of good reasons — markets, insurance and product performance — to plant sunflowers this growing season.

“The sunflower is a crop that gives growers peace of mind,” says Bruce Due, district agronomist, Mycogen Seeds. “Growers have several options to contract a large part, if not all, of their expected 2008 production with little or no risk.”

Growers can price their crop at historically high prices and at the same time obtain “act of God” protection against delivery in their contracts, Due explains. “With an act of God clause in the contract, if something happens to the crop during the growing season that is out of the grower’s control, he or she may have an option whether to deliver in the fall,” he says. With other crop commodities, such as wheat, corn and soybeans, a contract with an act of God clause either may not be available or difficult to obtain. This means that growers without the clause in their contracts may have to make delivery in the fall, even if adverse weather destroys the crop.

The current crop insurance program for sunflowers also provides coverage at all-time highs to reduce growers’ risks. This year’s revenue assurance (RA) insurance levels are more than $30 per hundredweight, making sunflowers one of the better crops for obtaining income protection. With RA insurance, growers can protect their income instead of protecting their yield.

Sunflowers in a grower’s rotation will provide some serenity, not only with the marketing and insurance guarantee, but also with the reassurance of reliable yields.

“Today’s sunflower genetics are capable of reaching 2,500 pounds per acre or more, and oil contents approaching 50 percent is not impossible,” says Doug Heatwole, district agronomist, Mycogen Seeds. In yield trials conducted in four states with MYCOGEN^® brand sunflowers in 2007, yields reached as high as 2,800 pounds per acre with oil content averaging 43 percent. See accompanying table for complete results.

South Dakota also had some very good sunflower results in 2007. The Jerry Webb plot in Harrold, S.D., had 26 hybrids that averaged 2,244 pounds per acre with average oil content of 41.2 percent. MYCOGEN brand hybrid 8N510 yielded 2,692 pounds per acre and had an oil content of 40.7 percent.

In Scott City, Kan., 15 MYCOGEN brand sunflower hybrids yielded an average of 2,040 pounds per acre with an average of 42.7 percent oil. MYCOGEN brand hybrid 8N453DM could have easily provided an oil premium of more than $100 per acre at current sunflower prices. This hybrid yielded 2,371 pounds per acre with 50.2 percent oil content.

“With this kind of potential performance, and with the marketing and insurance options available, sunflowers should be a part of this year’s crop rotation for every grower,” Due says.

DISCLAIMER: While Mycogen Seeds provides this crop contracting and insurance information in good faith, it does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of this information. Accordingly, growers should not rely upon this article as their sole source of information and should confer with their own professional advisers on these topics.

Mycogen Seeds is a retail seed company of Dow AgroSciences LLC and a developer and marketer of leading grain corn hybrids, the market leader in SILAGE-SPECIFIC^™ corn hybrids and sunflower hybrids, as well as an industry leader in canola, alfalfa, soybeans and sorghum. For more information about MYCOGEN brand products, visit www.mycogen.com.

Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a top-tier agricultural company that combines the power of science and technology with the “Human Element” to constantly improve what is essential to human progress. Dow AgroSciences provides innovative technologies for crop protection, pest and vegetation management, seeds, traits, and agricultural biotechnology to serve the world’s growing population. Global sales for Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, are $3.8 billion. Learn more at www.dowagro.com.