A CRUSHING facility in the Riverina is processing sunflowers for the first time in its history.
Riverina Oils and Bio-Energy (ROBE) has sourced locally grown sunflowers to produce high value sunflower oil.
ROBE trading manager Lachy Herbert said the sunflowers have generally been sourced within 150 kilometres of the company’s Wagga Wagga base.
“Sunflowers have traditionally been produced in larger volumes further to the north, but we had a number of growers in the Riverina with washed out canola crops who wanted to utilise the good moisture levels,” Mr Herbert said.
“They planted for the most part in September and October, the crops have nearly all been harvested and we’re now processing that seed.”
Mr Herbert said it had been a relatively easy process setting the plant, which generally handles small-seeded canola, to process sunflower seed.
“It wasn’t particularly difficult, it did require some investment in terms of rejigging the crushers, but it was simple enough.”
He said the feedback had been positive from growers.
“They are happy to have a market nearby for summer crops should the situation arise where they have the moisture to plant.”
Mr Herbert said the Riverina sunflower crop had been a mix between dryland and irrigated sunflowers.
“Some growers out in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) had the access to irrigation water and had some water to stick over the top of it, others grew the crop dryland.”
From ROBE’s perspective, he said it was a valuable diversification to the portfolio of products it manufactures.
“It was a little bit of a risk for us as we didn’t have the markets developed before we said we would process sunflower oil, but there is certainly interest in sunflower oil.
“We are targeting high value high oleic oil markets, such as the manufacturers of premium potato chips.
“The sunflower oil is good in terms of its frying profile in giving the chips an extra crunch.”
Mr Herbert said ROBE was pleased to have the opportunity to branch into other oil types.
“It is good to have a portfolio of products, as some years you will have a poor winter crop and there will be very little canola around.
“This is a bit of a risk management strategy, giving us a broader range of oils.”
Agronomically, he said the experiment with sunflowers had been a qualified success.
“Most people have been reasonably happy with the crop.”
“It probably doesn’t match cotton in terms of potential returns but it is much more flexible.
“The planting window runs right through from September to January and there is not the preparatory work required for cotton.
“It is a true 100 day crop, so it is easy to double crop with time to get the following winter crop in on time, so farmers have been very happy with its flexibility.”
Price wise, Mr Herbert said the varieties grown for oil processing were at a slight discount to canola at around $450-500 a tonne, while other specialty, lower yielding, sunflower lines for use for birdseed can be worth up to $850/t.