INTERNATIONAL SUNFLOWER ASSOCIATION

2023 comes to its end....

A rather long period since our newsletter N°14, last December. Spring is now well underway in the northern hemisphere, with generally optimistic sunflower acreage expectations and production forecasts. The final results will depend on many factors, at first weather which is delaying sowing operations in some regions, and also geopolitical evolutions.

The year 2022 revealed a world in a multi-dimensional crisis situation, with climate and environmental, health, political, economic, and social crises.

The International Sunflower Conference held in Novi Sad, on June 20-23, was a real success despite a difficult context. All the participants fully enjoyed this occasion of meeting around their favourite crop, sunflower, after 6 long years of interactions limited to video conferences.

The vegetable oil sector was already in a very tense situation due to climatic (rapeseed) and socio-economic (palm) events. The war in Ukraine is directly affecting the world's leading sunflower producer, which accounts for 33% of oil production and almost 50% of world exports, and causes an explosion in energy prices, resulting in historically high prices for the vegetable oils complex on very short term, causing heavy difficulties for importing countries. Beyond these figures and the massive effects on the markets, there are people, agronomists, or researchers, whom we sometimes have the opportunity to meet at conferences and events organized by ISA, or in the framework of scientific collaborations.

Farmers and agronomists are used to dealing with the uncertainties of climate, crop pests and ultimately markets. It seems that the covid crisis, with its own twists and turns and their consequences for human organisations, will eventually extend this state of uncertainty to all human activities. There is no choice but to adapt and ISA is trying to do its best in this difficult context.

This is the 10th issue of the ISA Newsletter, started in September 2018. Since then, we try to show the very diverse activity and continuous flow in the world of sunflower research, innovation, and crop development: these innovation efforts contribute to build confidence to prepare sunflower crops to the evolutions, favourable or not.

We hope that this ISA newsletter N°9 will find all its readers and their families in good health.

This newsletter shows several evolutions for ISA: a new logo and a new website.

The Covid 19 crisis reminds us that the mankind is not always in a dominant position when interacting with nature.

The ISA wishes you a happy new year and full success in your life and activities.

The Executive Board of the International Sunflower Association offers you this fifth issue of the ISA Newsletter.

Almost one year ago, in July 2018, the ISA executive board decided to launch this newsletter, to contribute to develop the communication among the sunflower community in the world.

This third issue of the ISA Newsletter puts a light on confection sunflower, and more precisely confection sunflower in China, taking the occasion of the Confection Sunflower Technology and Production symposium held in Wu Yuan, Inner Mongolia.

The executive board of the ISA offers you this second issue of the ISA Newsletter. We hope you will enjoy reading news from producing countries and research teams of the world. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have suggestions to improve it, or if you wish to share information.

The ISA board is delighted to announce the launch of the ISA Newsletter which aims to keep members and partners informed on on-going activities and results, both globally and in the different regions around the world. Besides the regular briefing sections of regional news and upcoming events, the Newsletter will be open to anyone, public and private, to contribute with ideas, comments and suggestions. The Newsletter will be issued on a regular basis and will highlight the current activities of the ISA and of its members, and the ISA involvement in sunflower research.