Kansas Sunflowers in Agricultural Chemistry

We have seen more fields of sunflowers than usual around the countryside close to home this year. Impressive, happy yellow flowers lined up in neat rows is a welcome sight after the golden wheat fields have been harvested and before the Milo ripens into a deep rusty reddish brown color. This excerpt from a K-State Research and Extension publication extols the uses and hopeful future of sunflowers which have a high tolerance for heat and drought. Most sunflowers in Kansas are grown for frying oil production, but new markets are opening up, Thompson said. Western Kansas growers have the option to sell to a crushing plant in eastern Colorado, that is selling sunflower oil to a new company that uses the oil for industrial purposes such as dust retardants and lubrication for irrigation wells. Eventually, the plant may produce motor oil for vehicles using sunflower oil. Using sunflower oil in biodiesel fuel is another possible future use. Sunflower fields near the Smoky Hills