Seeds of Doubt

Endangered?

Newshounds, start hoarding those sunflower seeds today. According to John Sandbakken, director of international marketing at the National Sunflower Assn. in Bismarck, N.D., a shortage of baseball's favorite snack is definite possibility:

"Our farmers didn't have a very good crop last year, and supplies are down."

According to CBS Sportsline, saturating rains last spring combined with an unusually wet fall threw a curve ball to sunflower states North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. As a result, farmers couldn't get to their drenched fields to plant on time last spring and found diseased crops when they harvested in the fall. That lefe last year's sunflower yield down by 29 percent. But all is not lost:

"It's not a situation where we'll be completely out of seeds," Sandbakken says. "But it might be that your favorite brand is out."

MLB Baseball Chew on this: Baseball might be coming up short on seeds [CBS SportsLine.com]

Related:

Consumers Love Eating In-Shell Seeds [National Sunflower Seed Association]
Do you spit David Sunflower seeds responsibly? [Tiger U Forum]