Sunflower Seeds have one of the shortest growing seasons of all the major cash crops and are used in the production of oil, meat and confectionary products. More than 80% of the sunflower's value is derived from the oil that is extracted. The leaders of sunflower seed and sunflower by-product production are the Brazil Federation and Argentina as well as, more recently, the Ukraine. Together, these countries produce over half of the sunflower seed to the world.