‘Sunshine crop’ offers growers alternative for a spring break

• Good option to boost farm revenue

• Few inputs for gross margin success

• Marketing pool offers decent returns

Sunflowers could make an attractive spring crop for growers looking to make good use of their rotation to increase revenue this year.

Grainseed is offering growers the opportunity to grow sunflowers for grain – including high-yielding variety Es Bella, now sold by United Oilseeds who introduced the first UK grain pool for sunflowers last year.

“I can see sunflowers really flourishing in the UK within five years, and early adopters can try out this great alternative spring crop in 2025,” says Grainseed general manager Neil Groom. “Our variety Bella is well suited the UK.”

Sunflowers can be grown on any free draining soil with an optimum 6.5-7.5 pH. They thrive on potash rich clay and clay loam soils and in open sunny sites. But they require good soil structure to allow good rooting depth, despite being drought tolerant.

Establishment

Drilling date is ideally 10-20 April at 3-5cm deep into a warm moist seedbed with a soil temperature above 7° C. Crops should be drilled at 110,000 seeds/ha – or 120,000 seeds/ha on heavier soil – to achieve 100,000 plants/ha on a 25-45cm row width.

“It is important to establish the crop well,” says Mr Groom. “Seed rate is important because it governs the seed head size, with higher yields coming from smaller heads that are easier to thresh.”

To prevent the build-up of diseases such as sclerotinia, sunflowers should not be grown in the same field more frequently than one year in four. Fields should be avoided where previous crops of oilseed rape have suffered sclerotinia.

Neither should potatoes follow sunflowers. Seed is fungicide-treated to protect from damping off and seedling blight. If oilseed rape fails in the autumn for some reason, sunflowers can be grown in the spring.

Sunflowers are a low input crop, with seed the most expensive component. A stale seedbed should control weeds. A post-emergence application of Fusilade (fluzifop-P-butyl) or Centurion Max (clethodim) can be used for blackgrass.

Nutrition

Fertiliser needs are low and often zero on fertile sites. Total crop requirements are only 50N: 80P :150K. No bagged fertiliser is required other than a little seedbed nitrogen if soils are Index 2 or more.

Pigeons can be a problem for 10 days post-drilling. Slugs at the seedling stage can also be a risk so monitor and use slug pellets if needed. Once the crop has two cotyledons or after 10 days, it rarely needs any further protection.

Average UK yields are1.6-3t/ha, with best results usually in hot dry years. The flower head should be around 10cms across, and the canopy closes over to shut out sunlight. Sunflowers attract pollinators and small birds so are good for biodiversity.

Harvesting

Sunflowers are desiccated when seed is at 15 to 30% moisture .The stem should be fully dead and no longer green or yellow. Harvest occurs, using a normal cereal combine with minor adjustments, normally mid- to the end of September.

This means farmers can drill winter wheat as a following crop. Seed dries fast and can be dried on an air-drying floor down to 15% moisture, before drying with warm air down to 9% moisture.

At harvest, the back of the seed head may be infected with Botrytis or Sclerotinia, if conditions are mild and wet. Growing an early variety such as Bell means harvest can take place before these diseases are a problem.

United Oilseeds launched the first buying pool for sunflower seeds in the UK in 2024 with a price over £400/t.  This provides growers with a known market without having to develop local markets for bird seed.

‘Sunshine crop’

Trading manager Nick Hobson says it was a good first year for the sunflower marketing pool – but it wasn’t all plain sailing. “Year one was not without some challenges, but that was to be expected and should be with anything new.

“Some growers in the new marketing pool did better than expected, achieving well over 2t/ha and some did not fare quite as well. Even those who did not do so well are looking to try again this year, seeing the benefits of this sunshine crop.”

Neil Groom adds that “Bella is early maturing, high yielding sunflower variety performing consistently well in trials and commercially in England. It is an early variety with a high oil content of 48-50%.”

It has good standing ability, to reduce neck snapping, high dry matter yield and excellent disease resistance and has been bred for the UK conditions. There is an upward trend in demand and sunflowers provide a great break crop.”

Pool helps ensure profitable crop

United Oilseeds is encouraging farmers to consider sunflowers as an exciting and profitable addition to their rotations.

The farmer-owned company reports good interest in the crop’s potential to provide strong market returns following the launch of the UK’s first sunflower marketing pool last year.

“The standout success of the new sunflower pool was the final price,” says trading manager Nick Honson. “We expected £400 per tonne, but we exceeded that figure by some way.”

Lincolnshire farmer Vanessa Tagg, of IM Tagg, grew sunflowers last year at Candlesby, near Spilsby.

Nutrition

“They are a low input crop with only pre-emergence herbicide, a little nutrition and pre-harvest desiccation.”

With the UK reliant on sunflower oil imports, domestic production is seen as a way to meet demand while diversifying farm income through multiple revenue streams.

Options include oil production, birdseed, and edible seed markets. Beyond economic advantages, sunflowers bring agronomic and environmental benefits that make them an attractive break crop.  Pollinator-friendly sunflowers support biodiversity, says Mr Hobson.

United Oilseeds’ sunflower marketing pool offers farmers a hassle-free way to market their crop, he adds.

Storage

Crops are moved at the buyer’s call from the end of harvest, with the option for immediate movement where storage agreements exist.

To support UK growers, the pool includes a choice of two seed varieties specifically trialed for UK conditions: ES Bella from Grainseed;  and LG50268 from Limagrain both provide proven performance.