Farmers are being encouraged to consider growing sunflowers to boost market returns and deliver environmental benefits.
United Oilseeds, which launched the UK's first-ever sunflower marketing pool in 2024, said it had seen a good year.
Some of the growers did better than expected, achieving well over 2t/ha, but some didn’t fare quite as well, the co-op said.
Nick Hobson, United Oilseeds' sunflower project lead, said: “Year one wasn’t without some challenges, but that was to be expected and should be with anything new.
“Even those who didn’t do so well are looking to try again this year, seeing the benefits of this sunshine crop.”
The biggest hurdle for some was moisture, as sunflowers need to be dried down to 15% moisture, which, when harvesting relatively late, can be a challenge.
Mr Hobson said: “As with any crop there are a range of pests that are partial to sunflowers, including slugs, pigeons and hares, but our growers in the main overcame these hurdles.”
However, the standout success of the new sunflower pool was the final price, as the expected £400 per tonne was exceeded.
One of the pool growers, Vanessa Tagg, of I M Tagg, Lincolnshire, said sunflowers were a low input crop with only pre-emergence herbicide, a little nutrition and pre-harvest desiccation.
“It would appear a good break crop to grow, aside from the late harvest, but we are planning on adapting this year by sowing earlier," she explained.
“We were pleasantly surprised at the amount of people that stopped, walked in and admired the sunflowers and it was a real pleasure talking to the public about our new crop.
“Overall, we found growing sunflowers a really positive experience and the pictures and videos were lovely to share on our social media.”
With the UK currently reliant on sunflower oil imports, United Oilseeds said domestic production offered an opportunity to meet rising demand while diversifying farm income, including in oil production, birdseed, and edible seed markets.
Beyond economic advantages, the co-operative said sunflowers brought agronomic and environmental benefits that made them an attractive break crop.
And with growing industry momentum, sunflowers could play a key role in strengthening UK arable farming.
