The UK's first ever sunflower marketing pool has been created by United Oilseeds, as interest in the sunshine crop continues to rise.
The co-operative is promoting the new pool in a bid to give sunflower crop growers an additional option for spring planting.
On average, 60,000 tonnes of sunflower seed is imported into the UK each year to be used for the bird food market.
Seed supplier Grainseed has confirmed that demand could support 40,000 hectares of sunflowers in the UK.
Over the past year, the firm has seen a 25% increase in the area grown from 300 hectares to 400 hectares.
United Oilseeds managing director, James Warner said: “We have been thinking about sunflowers for a while now, with the subject coming up in conversations more frequently.
"As break crop specialists, it feels right that we should be pushing the conversation forward, and what better way to do that than by getting the ball rolling with the UKs first ever sunflower marketing pool.
“It’s important that we provide our members with new break crop opportunities, which is why we’ve always been a front runner in developing crop marketing pools.
With tricky conditions for farmers over the winter, leading to uncertainty about what to plant in the spring, sunflowers could be a tempting prospect as an alternative.
Neil Groom, general manager at Grainseed, said it was good to see growers being provided with additional break crop opportunities.
"We’ve been selling grain sunflower seed for many years and we’ve been watching the potential growing area in the UK increase year on year.
"Not only is the climate providing opportunities for growing sunflowers further north, but as farming practices evolve, this too supports the case."
Sunflowers are low input and a break crop for replenishing soil health and structure.
Classed as an arable crop under the UK's new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), growers can see additional returns of £45/ha under IPM4.
