Fun Facts

A common ingredient in fertilizer is phosphate, which comes from ancient sea life. Phosphate is one of many natural ingredients used to keep soil — and plants! — healthy.

Beef from cows and steers are used in two different ways. Cow meat is used primarily as ground beef for hamburgers and the majority of steer meat is used as steaks.

For a dessert to officially be considered ice cream, it must contain at least 10 percent milkfat.

One 60-pound bushel of wheat provides about 42 pounds of white flour, enough for about 70, one-pound loaves of white bread.

Did you know Kansas has an official state soil? It's called Harney silt loam and it covers about 4 million acres of land in our state. 

There are four main types of sorghum: grain, forage, biomass and sweet. Their most popular uses are: for food (grain sorghum), as livestock feed (forage sorghum), to produce bioenergy (biomass...

Gluten is what helps bread expand while the dough rises, and hold its shape while baking and after it cools. It’s also what makes bread chewy.

Grain sorghum is one of the oldest known grains. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Africa and India.

About two-thirds of the Kansas corn crop is used in-state as livestock feed or in food production.

Sows give birth (called farrowing) to an average of eight to twelve piglets at a time and will raise six to eight litters of piglets in their lifetime.

About a third of a steer is used for beef production. The rest of the animal is used to make by-products found in medicines, cosmetics, detergents, insulation, and much more!

About four percent of the land in Kansas is part of conservation or wetland reserve programs.

98 percent of all corn farms are family-run farms.

In 2018, farmers in Kansas planted 165,000 acres of cotton, which produced about 335,000 bales!

Grains can be categorized into food grains (for people) and feed grains (for cattle). Cattle eat feed grains like field corn and grain sorghum. An average of 4 ½ pounds of grain is used to produce a...

Within an hour of birth calves are up and ready to nurse. A baby calf will drink a gallon of milk a day.

Wheat flour is a good source of complex carbohydrates and contains protein. Plus, it’s low in fat and sodium.

Did you know that one acre of soybeans can produce 82,368 crayons?

Soybean oil is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.

In pre-refrigeration days, hogs were harvested in the fall and cured for six to seven months, just in time for Easter dinner. That’s how ham came to be the traditional Easter favorite.

In addition to meat, pigs provide us with lots of other products, including valves for human heart surgery, suede for shoes and clothing, and gelatin for many food and non-food uses.