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The Rural Voice, 2000-08, Page 32• •,.. ♦ , qtr( k • 4,► ` •i• fs • - • `r 4 ,2 r • �• ` 1 • �� • • • • r. ;O`VE, A°'VAL ! R1ER/SEED ©'WNtE`�` BBONN'IE_:GROPP For motorists travelling Highv.ay 4 in August each year, there's an unusual traffic hazard on a farm near Londesborb. The bright yellow of acres of sunflowers has turned many a motorist's head and more than a few stop and take pictures. (The farm was featured on the cover of last year's August issue of The Rural Voice.) Bob Szusz of Londesboro hit upon a way to enhance his seed plant business a few years ago by planting sunflowers. Unfortunately, the potential for this low maintenance crop is not being fully realized in Ontario, he says. Out west and in the mid -west United States, sunflowers are grown for sunflower oil with the seeds being a by- product. After the seeds are cleaned they are graded by size and the plumper ones are processed for oil, says Szusz. "High premium is paid for the quality product. Whai's left goes for bird feed." The problem here is that there is no place to process the seeds. "There's no reason it couldn't be done; sunflowers can be grown quite successfully in Huron. I don't know if it's a cost factor, though probably there would be a big cost on machinery. But as an alternative crop here in Ontario, if someone felt rich and wanted to start a processing plant, we can grow them," Szusz laughs. It was 1993 when Szusz, having purchased the Londesboro Seed Plant from Norman Alexander, decided to try growing sunflowers. Planting the first week in May of that year in co-operation with Tom and Roger Cunningham, Szusz experimented with the striped sunflower seed. These ones are not strictly for the birds being equally enjoyed by humans. They found it a "tricky thing to do," says Szusz. "Obviously the weather is a big factor, you need a lot of sunshine. We couldn't seem t� get them dry and ran into a lot of mold, which knocked the yield from the three acres for a loop." 28 THE RURAL VOICE • Bob Szusz sells the sunflower seed he grows through the store at his seed plant. After the same thing happened the next year, Szusz decided to investigate the black sunflower seed, which is preferred by 99 per cent of the people in their bird feed, as well as being the seed harvested for oil. Despite years of research, however, their first year was -J O 0 Photo by Bonnie Gropp