2011/01/01 by P. Jouffret, Jouffret, Pierre, Françoise Labalette +3
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Agriculture durable #Agroecology #Besoin #Innovation #Sunflower and Safflower Cultivation
paper · doi:10.17180/q8ws-cj34
openalex publication_date 2011/01/01 · openalex created_date 2023/01/06 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
For the last 20 years, sunflower world acreages have largely increased. In 2010, they reached 24 million hectares. Two thirds are located in Europe (4 million hectares), in Russia and Ukraine (11.3 million hectares) where the acreage can still expand a lot. This situation is favourable for research, breeding, seeds production, exchange…all the more that sunflower price seems well oriented and that its oil is globally well appreciated. In France, sunflower has other assets: oleic varieties on more than 50% surfaces, well organized supply chain, main seeds companies research centres, involvement of INRA, good adaptation to the environmental requirements. But, for 20 years, mean seed yields have lightly increased which contributed to a large fall of the acreages (now stabilized to 700 000 hectares) and to their concentration in two regions: South-West and West-Atlantic. Productivity improvement seems essential: it first needs the breeding of high yielding varieties with a good disease tolerance but also the setting of complete crop management system (variety, date of sowing, planting density…) adapted to different situations. Because of the environmental context, it seems necessary to carry out studies on the new systems for weed control with post emergence herbicides, mechanical weed control, wheatsunflower intercrop cultivation and adaptation to climate change. As far as oilseed processing and outlets are concerned, several research points should be considered to ensure the sustainability of this crop.