The Saskatchewan Sunflower Committee will be hosting a tour and meeting Tuesday at the Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Research Farm in Indian Head.

Sunflowers are one of the few crops grown in Saskatchewan that are actually native to North America, but only 7,000 acres of sunflowers were grown in our province last year.

"The reason for that is the market for sunflower oil has changed over the years," said Elaine Moats, an Official with Saskatchewan's Ministry of Agriculture.

"People have become more health conscious and are looking for the Mid-Oleic and High-Oleic oil types. Unfortunately, the varieties that we grow here don't have those characteristics."

Now, sunflowers are grown more for birdseed. Part of the committee's mandate is to find suitable varieties for Saskatchewan growers -- so, variety trials will be shown on the tour.