Soybeans Replace Raleigh Selfie Sunflowers: SunFest Alternative

RALEIGH, NC — Say goodbye to the happy-faced sunflowers that lured tourists off the Neuse River Greenway Trail, over a fence and into a sea of gold to pose for selfies. They were so popular that this year, the city of Raleigh planted soybeans instead in the field near Mile Marker 23.

Welp. If it helps to know this, there's a good reason for the switch. However much the public enjoyed them, the city planted them as a biofuels crop that is converted to biodiesel on site to run farm equipment, the News Observer reported.

Sunflower fields will still be visible, but from beyond a buffer of soybeans on the 1,100 acres surrounding the Neuse River Resource Recovery Facility.

The city has saved about 20 percent in annual energy costs by harvesting and processing the oils into biodiesel fuel, according to the city’s website. Though aesthetically appealing, the fields were an attractive nuisance potentially exposing the city to liability for snake bites and other injuries.

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“We don’t want to have the same challenges we had last year with them — with people traipsing about the fields,” Edward Buchman, the senior utilities analyst for the city’s public utilities department, told the newspaper. “And there was even a traffic issue.”

A person commenting on the city’s Facebook post about its decision to move the fields described the chaos differently: “So, because of dingbats swarming like flies last year, responsible people lose out?”

The sunflowers are a big part of Raleigh’s green approach to wastewater treatment. Sludge from the wastewater treatment process is used as fertilizer on sunflowers and other fuel-producing crops, which set down soil-holding roots stop waste run-off into the Neuse River watershed. Sunflower seeds are harvested and converted to biofuels on site inside an 18-wheel tractor trailer.

“It’s a significant sustainability effort on our part,” Buchman told the News Observer.

Sunflower enthusiasts aren’t completely left out. They’re expected to be in full bloom for SunFest on July 14 in Dix Park. The event from 2-7 p.m. at the Flowers Field, 2105 Umstead Drive, features live music, arts and crafts, performance artists, vendors and food trucks.

Lead photo via Shutterstock / algae