THE NEW GOLD RUSH: SUNFLOWERS - Why you can expect to see more people growing this happy summer bloom.

There’s a new gold rush going on, with a huge increase in sunflowers being grown on farms, especially across the South Island. Claire Finlayson digs into the reason why.

There’s a new gold rush down south: mobs of radiant-headed sunflowers are proving quite the crop du jour. Bloom-dazzled campervan drivers have collided while ogling swathes of sunflowers near one motorway-close farm south of Timaru; others have broken farmers’ fences in their scramble to take floral-backed selfies. But there’s a whole lot more to this plant than its pretty noggin. Its properties as a nutritional powerhouse and agricultural workhorse are fast boosting the sunflower’s fanbase.

Jock Webster and brother-in-law Ross Mitchell were probably New Zealand’s earliest sunflower barons. When they planted two hectares of sunflowers on their Rosedale Farm near Oamaru back in 1974, they initially had margarine on their minds (their barley-faithful farming neighbours probably thought these crops some sort of agriculturally eccentric hippie salute).

Extracting seed oil for margarine didn’t prove especially profitable though, so when several bird breeders started purchasing their seed instead of nutrient-stripped heat-treated imported product, they swivelled from bread spread to bird fodder. Their mixed seed birdfood business Topflite has been the prime player in its field since 1996 and is now run by the next generation of MitchellWebsters. Alongside a range of other crops, they plant 80ha of sunflowers to keep up with avian appetites (and sell around 1000 tonnes of sunflower-studded birdseed product annually).

But it’s human diners who are responsible for the biggest surge in sunflower crops seen in paddocks across Canterbury and Otago. This owes, in large part, to the findings of a recent government-funded project led by the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) in collaboration with the Pure Oil NZ seed-processing plant in North Canterbury. The findings showed that high-oleic sunflower varieties were a promising rotational crop for farmers. FAR’s General Manager Business Operations, Ivan Lawrie, says, “Consumer demand is strong for high-oleic sunflower oil, which is a top quality oil with a higher smoke point than regular sunflower oil, and many sought-after health attributes, including low saturated fat content and high monounsaturated fat.”

Pure Oil NZ subsequently expanded its stable of growers to meet that increasing demand and sells their product under ‘The Good Oil’ brand. In its first year of planting, it had 65ha of sunflower crops. Four years on, its stable of nearly 20 growers across Canterbury and Otago plant 300ha of the hybrid ‘Idillic’ variety.

Stu Macaulay (part of the Pure Oil NZ stable) is on his third season as a sunflower grower and plants 76ha of sunflowers at Altonbrook, his mixed cropping and livestock farm in Canterbury. He says the FAR research gave New Zealand growers a bit of confidence to invest some money and have a go. “In terms of soil health, sunflowers are a beneficial plant for mycorrhizal fungi. And it makes a good predecessor crop for wheat, so it fits well for a good rotation.”

FAR recommended that growers aim for at least 60,000 sunflower plants per hectare to allow for crop depletion caused by avian freeloaders. Stu says birds are a bother at both ends of a sunflower’s life at Altonbrook. “The biggest challenge is the establishment phase – those first 10 days post-planting. If you can get your sunflowers past their first two leaves, they’re usually okay.”

Struggling sunflower newborns are vulnerable to bird damage – mainly from pigeons. And when the plants mature, 120-ish days later, they are peck-prone again. Says Stu, “Close to harvest time, it’s mainly sparrows and

“In terms of soil health, sunflowers are quite a beneficial plant for mycorrhizal fungi. And it makes a good predecessor crop for wheat, so it fits well for a good rotation,” says sunflower grower Stu Macaulay.

finches that like eating them. But we have automated field crop lasers that scan the field during the day and try to disturb the birds out of the crop. We also use traditional gas guns.”

Other growers prefer the “Harvey method” of bird control: Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie, two of Pure Oil NZ’s more recent sunflower-smitten farmers, had an unsolicited volunteer guard watching over their high-altitude Crown Range crops last season: a hawk who sat on a fence near their bird-beckoning blooms and stared down a fair few feathered seed-seekers. Nadia named him Harvey.

But not all growers need lasers or Harveys. The newest sunflower groupies – the regenerative farming contingent – are far more interested in the cheer this bloom spreads below ground. The sunflower’s strong, inquisitive taproots aerate and condition the earth, making it one of the new darlings of the soil-solicitous farmer.

Peter Barrett of Linnburn Station in Paerau, Central Otago, has been a sunflower convert since 2014. When he took over his family’s 9000ha cattle and sheep farm, soil assessments showed the land was worm-depleted after years of conventional farming. “We were doing everything we were supposed to be doing but there wasn’t much life in the soil.” So he turned to regenerative principles, using plants to improve nutrient cycling and fertility in his unhappy soil. He added the sunflower to a biodiversity-boosting cover crop cocktail that mixed 30 or so different plant species.

“You can use plants to do a lot of things usually done with chemicals or machinery”, says Peter. “The sunflower is definitely a key plant for getting air and carbon into the soil profile.” He now plants around 20,000 sunflower plants per hectare – and his soil is a whole lot richer for it. “You can put your hand down into the soil and pick it up without a shovel now.”

The above-ground results are just as gratifying: “There are now lots of birds and insects and bees – seeing that web of life installs confidence that what you’re doing is beneficial.”

When asked what praises he’d heap on the sunflower, Peter gives it a glowing report card: “The leaves have a carbon-nitrogen ratio of 15-1 which is close to really good decomposition; their upright growth habit protects the ground with shelter; they’re very good at building soil and dealing with erosion; they leave lasting residue on the ground that feeds microbes; they keep the ground covered when they’ve been eaten by cattle (and then you leave the microbes to cycle the nutrients); they’re great at scavenging nitrogen; they’re good for grazing and grow quickly; they’re pretty affordable; they’re good at dealing with surface compaction; they grow very well in a warm environment; they can grow in areas that have low fertility; and they’re brilliant at attracting bees and other beneficial organisms.”

Soil microbiology aside, Peter’s not immune to the sunflower’s more obvious charms: “Striped sunflowers are amazing – the best thing is when you take children out there all of a sudden you can just see their connection. It makes you feel good about what you’re doing when you’re out in an environment with sunflowers.”

So, next time you see a swathe of proud sunflower heads doing their heliotropic dance across a paddock, give a nod to their glowing sphere of subterranean activity – the one where the worms are taking selfies with the taproots.

“There are now lots of birds and insects and bees – seeing that web of life installs confidence that what you’re doing is beneficial,” says Peter Barrett.