North Dakota farmers are also harvesting sunflowers. According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, 79 percent of sunflowers are harvested at the end of February. That’s an increase of 12 percentage points from January. Coleharbor, North Dakota farmer Paul Anderson is harvesting confection sunflowers this week. “They’re a little wet. Not bad, but we’re probably down to about 14 percent moisture. When we started sunflower harvest, the flowers were at 20 percent moisture.” Anderson says the trouble in harvesting is the back of sunflower heads. “It’s like a cereal bowl holding upside down. If you get a little bit of snow, it fills a bowl of water in the back of the head again. Then, it has to dry out. It’s been dry enough where the flowers are in decent shape.”
