Trend over? Why farmers are growing fewer sunflowers

New regional oil is currently being bottled at the Hartmann oil mill in the Swabian district of Augsburg. Owner Markus Hartmann has had turbulent years with his sunflower oil – demand initially rose sharply due to Corona and the war in Ukraine. Ukraine is a major sunflower producer and for a long time it was not clear whether there would be supply bottlenecks.

“The phones were ringing, all the discounters wanted our oil,” reports Hartmann. Demand has now been defeated and is at about the same level as before Corona. His advantage: Hartmann has regular customers in the food retail trade, where his oil is still available.

Cultivation area has shrunk significantly across Germany

He also grows everything he bottles himself. Two years ago, he grew 100 hectares of sunflowers, but today he only grows 40. The area used to grow sunflowers has also fallen nationwide – by 20,000 hectares in one year. Hartmann believes that consumer behavior has changed. Many people prefer to buy cheaper oil.

Instead, the sunflowers come from Russia or Ukraine. The feared supply bottlenecks have not materialized. Regional sunflowers cannot be maintained at this price. This is why many Bavarian farmers have turned away from sunflowers.

Contractor has only one sunflower customer left

Contractor Joseph Demmelmaier from the Dachau district recently experienced this. Two years ago, he seized the opportunity and bought a sunflower extension for his cutting unit from France. Suddenly, everyone wanted to grow sunflowers.

In 2022, he threshed 50 hectares of sunflowers for his customers, this year it will probably only be about four hectares. Currently, the contractor only has one customer who grows sunflowers and wants to market them as oil himself. Demmelmaier says that he already suspected that the trend would not continue. He is glad that he bought the technology second-hand and did not invest heavily. For him, the short boom was therefore still worthwhile.

Major sales problems in Lower Franconia

The Kitzingen producer association from Lower Franconia is more concerned about the future. “Their sales channels for their sunflowers are currently closing down,” explains chairman Burkhard Graber. At the moment, 30 percent of Bavaria’s sunflowers are grown in the Kitzingen district. For next year, the farmers are considering reducing cultivation by half, says Graber.

The problem: The Kitzingen farmers have specialized in a variety that is very heat-resistant as an oil. Due to these properties, a large part of it has so far been sold to a regional chemical company, which uses it to make lubricants for cotton and nylon spinning mills in Asia. The remaining sunflower oil is sold in food retail stores or in restaurants.

But sales are faltering. According to Graber, one reason is that a lot of cheap sunflower products are currently coming from Eastern Europe. In addition, there are conflicts at the Suez Canal that are making trade relations with Asia more difficult. “Kitzingen farmers don’t know where to store their goods,” confirmed Burkhard Graber.

Organic farmer satisfied

Organic farmer Johann Ellenrieder from Ustersbach in Swabia is grateful for his reliable business relationship. He has been growing sunflowers for 20 years, long before the boom, but always only in small quantities on six to ten hectares. Ellenrieder sells to the regional organic oil mill Kappelbauer. The cold-pressed organic sunflower oil goes to health food retailers, for example. A niche product. The price has remained relatively constant for him.

But this year he has another problem with his crops: voracious animals. The snails were particularly bad this year. In the evenings there were eight snails hanging on each plant at the edge of the field. They ate away an entire row.

Pigeons eat up fields

But the pigeons were even hungrier. On one side of his field, farmer Ellenrieder had to completely re-sow the sunflowers. Scarecrows, clapping, nothing helps once the birds have acquired a taste for it.

Farmer and oil producer Marcus Hartmann, who lives a few villages away, is also familiar with the problem. In one village, he was no longer able to plant anything because of the pigeons. The animals could simply eat five hectares dry in one day. Unfortunately, permission to shoot them was no longer granted in particularly affected areas, which is why pigeons cost a lot of income every year, according to the Bavarian Farmers’ Association.

Marcus Hartmann and Johann Ellenrieder want to continue growing sunflowers and hope that consumers will appreciate regional sunflower oil more in the future.