Fun Facts

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

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

The largest market for field corn is to provide feed for animals like cattle, pigs, chicken, and even catfish. 

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

Cotton can be found in much more than clothes and other fabrics! Cotton by-products can be used to make paper currency, cosmetics and feed for dairy cattle and livestock.

Looking for a gluten-free grain? Try sorghum! It's gluten-free and packed with protein, iron, vitamin B-6, niacin, magnesium and phosphorus.  

Pork tenderloin is as lean as a skinless chicken breast.

It takes five to six months for a pig to reach market weight (about 265 pounds). One market hog provides about 160 pounds of pork for the grocery store’s meat case.

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

Mexico and Japan are our top international corn buyers. They buy 50 percent of U.S. corn exports.

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.

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

Kansas is known for its sunflowers. They provide food for insects, birds and cattle, and make great cooking oil, biofuel and a delicious snack for people!

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.

Drink local with milk! It takes about 48 hours for milk to travel from dairy farms to the grocery store.

Did you know cotton is becoming a big crop in Kansas? Last year, farmers here produced over 164 million pounds of cotton! 

One bushel of corn makes 2.8 gallons of ethanol.

Cotton bolls, which are the puffs of white produced by cotton plants, are technically fruit.

Did you know that Americans consume about 132 pounds of wheat flour per person each year?

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.

Mexico and Japan are our top international corn buyers. They buy 50 percent of U.S. corn exports.