Industry insiders estimate that the sunflower seed area in France may increase this year because less chemical fertilizer is used than corn, which is also the reason why American farmers increase the area of soybeans and reduce the area of corn.

Terres inovia, the French oilseed crop research institute, estimates that the area of sunflower seeds in France may reach 0.75 to 0.78 million hectares hectares this spring, compared with about 0.7 million hectares originally estimated.