We had not sown sunflower for several years since it is a very residual crop in our village (La Alberca de Záncara - Cuenca). However, during the current year, with the war in Ukraine and the increased prices of sunflower (around 650€/ta) we decided to sow some fallow fields, so we show you a few pictures and a video of the harvesting tasks.
We sowed the sunflower at the end of April and although it was quite early, it was a good decision as some farmers sowed in May and already suffered too much from the drought and therefore many plants didn't grow. So, we had a good start, but the bad luck of no raining during the summer has severely limited the garlic performances, which has been around 500kg/ha (normally a good yield is a little more than double that). This is the main reason why sunflower cultivation has been practically abandoned in our area and we rotate with pulse vegetables... The total lack of precipitation in summer and the rising temperatures mean that sunflowers don’t produce attractive yields.
As for the harvesting tasks, the Moresil harvesting cutter bar does an exceptional job with the choppers at the bottom of the cutter bar. The wate is completely shredded and therefore the stubble is left in very good condition to prepare the cereal sowing bed for the next campaign.
