Fun Facts

One bale of cotton can make 1,256 pillowcases.

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

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.

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

The cotton gin first came to Kansas in 1854 when a Polish immigrant wanted to gin local cotton near Valley Falls.

Did you know the corn humans eat is different from the corn that cattle eat? Most of the corn people eat is sweet  corn. Cattle and other livestock eat field corn.

About one-third of the milk produced in the U.S. is used for making cheese.

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

Sorghum can be used to make environmentally-friendly packing peanuts, fencing materials, floral arrangements, brooms and more!

Output from Kansas agriculture has a direct economic impact of $22.5 billion per year.

One bushel of corn fed to livestock produces 5.6 pounds of retail beef, 13 pounds of retail pork, 19.6 pounds of chicken or 28 pounds of catfish.

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

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

There are more than 29 cuts of beef that meet government guidelines for lean, including tenderloin, T-bone steak and extra lean ground beef.

Did you know corn tortillas can differ in color based on the type of corn used? Some are white and others are yellow.

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.

Did you know Kansas farmers grow about 330 million bushels of wheat each year? That’s enough to make 23 billion loaves of bread!

Energy experts estimate global ethanol production and use reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 110 million metric tons per year. That’s equivalent to taking more than 20 million vehicles off the road.

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

In Kansas alone, pig farmers raised over 3.2 million pigs in 2015, producing over 600 million pounds of pork!

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.