The Goiana Agricultural Defense Agency (Agrodefesa) has set March 31st as the deadline for sowing sunflowers in Goiás, according to Normative Instruction No. 01/2022, to control the spread of volunteer soybean plants and Asian rust disease. This measure ensures the soybean fallow period is respected, crucial for maintaining the phytosanitary integrity of the crops. The instruction also requires the destruction of volunteer soybean plants near sunflower crops and mandates that crops sown after March 14th must be of a short cycle. Goiás, being the leading sunflower producer in Brazil, is expected to yield 47.3 thousand tons in the 2023/2024 harvest, slightly more than the previous year.