Market for high-quality sunflower oil creates new opportunity for

Farmers could earn extra money by growing sunflowers as a rotational crop in the summer, new research from the Foundation for Arable Research has found.

Demand for hi-oleic sunflower oil, a quality oil with a high smoke point, was growing. The oil is low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat, the foundation said.

The three-year project, which received $90,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund (now called the Sustainable Food and Fibres Future fund), looked at crop options that could raise profitability and provide alternative land uses.

High-oleic varieties of sunflowers were identified as a promising crop. More than 20 growers had been involved and the product had been used by potato chip manufacturers for frying. Extra virgin sunflower oil produced by the growers could be purchased under “The Good Oil” brand in supermarkets.

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Foundation general manager of business operations Ivan Lawrie said New Zealand conditions were right for successful sunflower crops, with yield potential in excess of 4.5 tonnes per hectare.

The project had focused on sunflower agronomy over the past two years, in collaboration with Pure Oil NZ, which provided grower contracts and extracted the oil from the seed.

The researchers were especially interested in determining how growers could produce a profitable crop in sufficient quantities to meet demand. They trialled two lines of hybrid seeds from France.

“We’ve established that growers need at least 60,000 plants per hectare to have a successful crop,” Lawrie said.

“Growers need reasonably big paddocks to contend with bird damage because unfortunately birds are especially keen on the sunflowers. The project has looked at some of the optical and sonic devices currently available to deter birds, and further work is required in this area.”

Sunflowers grew at a time of year when there was little competition from other crops and required minimal use of chemical and fertilisers to grow. The cost per hectare to grow the sunflowers was low and once established, they didn’t require much attention until harvest.

The plants were also deep-rooted and provided good soil aeration and conditioning for the following crop. Sunflowers had been shown to be a good predecessor crop for wheat, Lawrie said.