When the spring sun rises in the sky, sunflower seeds sink into the ground. In France, farmers are starting to get busy planting the beautiful yellow flower, immortalized by Van Gogh. Difficult, while the first touches of culture are barely laid, to say what the final painting will look like. Some are still trying to estimate the size of the golden carpet that will take place this summer. Arnaud Rousseau, president of Avril, the French leader in vegetable oils and proteins, expects an area of between 700,000 and 800,000 hectares, comparable to that of previous campaigns.
Even if the fallow land, authorized for cultivation by the government, were sown in sunflower, it would hardly move the fathom. Quasi-stability in an unstable world. Since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 by the Russian armies led by Vladimir Putin, the agricultural markets, already overheated with speculation linked to the post-Covid economic recovery and some climatic vagaries, are still rising in temperature. .
The media spotlight is on the sunflower. Ukraine alone sells more than half of the sunflower oil marketed on the planet. By adding Russia, the flow reaches 80%. Result, the course of the sunflower lost the compass. “The sunflower delivered to Saint-Nazaire, harvest 2021, is trading at 1,010 euros per tonne. This is a historic high. To be compared to 550 euros per tonne a year ago, and 350 euros per tonne in 2019”explains Arthur Portier, from Agritel.
“Inexpensive to produce”
Himself a farmer, he is about to plant sunflowers for the first time. It was approached by companies ready to sign contracts, for the next harvest, at 800 euros per tonne. He declined, not knowing his returns. “But, given the prices, the sunflower being inexpensive to produce, there is no risk”, he adds. The yellow flower has, in fact, the good taste of requiring little input. A major asset when the price of fertilizers, dependent on Russian gas, soars.
The concern is the lust of the birds attracted to the seeds. Julien Mora, a farmer from the Landes, has refined his counter-attack: installation of helium-filled metal balloons, distribution of corn around the plot, scarers… The showdown lasts a month. In Ukraine, the issue of sunflower cultivation is of a completely different nature. How, in a country at war, to ensure sowing and crop monitoring? No one can make harvest forecasts today.
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