SUN’Live: Everything You Need to Know About Sunflower Cultivation in 7 Steps

Description

Would you like to learn more about sunflower cultivation or deepen your existing knowledge? The SUN Live training course, offered remotely, covers the key practices and stages essential to successful sunflower cultivation over the course of seven sessions led by experts from Terres Inovia. It is designed to help you master the fundamentals of sunflower cultivation, whether you are just getting started or looking to refresh your skills.

On the agenda:

Session 1: Planting and Pests

• Management of intercrops (including cover crops) prior to sunflower cultivation.
• Techniques for successfully establishing a robust sunflower crop capable of withstanding summer stress.
• Promoting uniform plant establishment and deep root development.
• Identification of early-season pests, assessment of their damage potential, and presentation of possible control methods.

Session 2: Positioning in the crop rotation and economic assessment

• Agroeconomic characteristics of sunflowers: robustness dependent on careful and optimized cultivation practices
• Optimizing the role of sunflowers in crop rotations
• What are the economic impacts of sunflowers at the cropping system level?

Section 3: Weed Control 

• Complementarity between agronomic, chemical, and mechanical solutions
• Overview of herbicide solutions and programs
• Targets, spectrum, efficacy, selectivity, and conditions of use for the main sunflower herbicides

 Section 4: Fertilization

• Specific requirements of sunflowers regarding nitrogen fertilization and calculation of the application rate
• Rationale for phosphorus and potassium fertilization
• Sunflower micronutrient requirements; focus on boron and molybdenum

 Section 5: Harvest and crop quality

• Choosing the right time to harvest.
• Overview of suitable harvesting equipment
• Best practices for crop preservation and storage.

Session 6: Ecophysiology and water efficiency

• Distribution of water requirements throughout the growth cycle.
• Importance of the leaf area index at the start of flowering and leaf area duration.
• Irrigating sunflowers: an opportunity to seize.
• Identifying key periods in the growth cycle and climatic requirements by growth stage.
• Factors influencing yield and oil content.

 Session 7: Diseases and broomrape

• Recognition of major diseases, life cycle, damage potential, protection methods, early warning and decision-making tools
• Orobanche cumana: identification, damage potential, monitoring, and management of affected areas in France

Training objectives

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

• Identify the key stages of cultivation, from planting to harvest, and assess their success.
• Diagnose the main issues that can affect sunflower cultivation.
• Understand and use decision-making tools to help the crop reach its full potential and maximize profitability.

Teaching methods

100% digital format: Online training, accessible from any connected device.

Active learning: Technical presentations, real-world case studies, feedback, analysis of real-life situations.

Assessment: Quizzes at the end of each session, Q&A sessions, individual satisfaction surveys, self-assessment.

Teaching resources

Online sessions: 7 two-hour sessions on Teams, led by expert engineers from Terres Inovia.

Theoretical materials: Technical presentations, summary documents, decision-making tools (e.g., fertilization calculations, disease and pest identification charts).

Interactivity: Quizzes, live Q&A sessions, discussions with trainers and participants.

Digital materials: Presentations and resources provided after each session.

Assessment methods

Accessibility information

If you need any accommodations to help you succeed in your program, please contact the disability coordinator:

Christel CARO

Phone: 01 30 79 95 09

Email: formation@terresinovia.fr