A farmer won the Syngenta sunflower crop competition with an average yield of more than 5 tons

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 12. 03. 10:39

This year, sunflowers were grown on 679 thousand hectares in Hungary, with a national average yield of 2.524 tons per hectare. The winner of the sunflower seed market leader Syngenta’s yield competition harvested more than twice that, 5.25 tons per hectare. Participants in the company’s 6-ton professional program have been working with the agricultural company’s experts for years to make the most of the crop’s potential.

Sunflower sector faces a difficult farming season

In our country, the initial, initially abundant winter and spring precipitation was followed by water shortages and extremely high temperatures. July was record-breakingly hot and dry, which left its mark on the average yield of sunflowers sown on 679 thousand hectares. The national average in a good year reaches 3 tons per hectare, and this year’s national average was 2.5 tons/ha. The best results were achieved in Tolna (2.982 tons/ha), Hajdú-Bihar (2.952 tons/ha), Komárom-Esztergom (2.75 tons/ha), and Baranya (2.75 tons/ha). The counties of Bács-Kiskun (1.95 tons/ha) and Csongrád-Csanád (1.8 tons/ha) came at the bottom of the list. The results of the leading sunflower-producing countries were also mixed this year: in Russia, Ukraine, the European Union, and Turkey, crop yields decreased significantly in many places, reflecting the effects of the summer drought. There have been recent reports from France that heavy rains have hindered field work and damaged the crop.

Outstanding results achieved by the participants of the 6-ton program

Despite the challenges of this season, Syngenta’s yield competition produced good results: the national first place winner with the Subeo hybrid achieved a result of 5.25 t/ha. In a close competition, a farmer from the northeast with the Suviedo hybrid fell just 20 kilos short of first place. The company announced 3 places in four regions of the country, everyone can boast a yield of over 4 t/ha!

The aim of the 6-ton program, which was launched 4 years ago, is to understand the functioning of sunflowers together with producers, and with this knowledge, to make sunflower cultivation in our country even more conscious and profitable. A total of 71 people joined the program this year with approximately 20 thousand hectares of sunflower cultivation area. This year, nitrogen was also in focus, as it is the most expensive element in sunflower cultivation technology. Excessive nitrogen supply is not only expensive and a waste of money, but can also have a negative impact on sunflower yields. In addition, in 2024, the study of the effect of sunflower spacing and row and plant spacing on yield also came to the fore.