Fun Facts

There are about 60-80 pods on a mature soybean plant. Each pod contains three small soybeans.

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

Pig farmers have reduced greenhouse gas emissions on pig farms by 35% per pound of pork by changing how crops are raised, how pigs are fed, and how nutrients are recycled.

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.

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.

Farmers in Kansas grow more than 650 million bushels of corn each year. 

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

The United States grows more soybeans than any other country and six out of every ten rows of soybeans are exported to other countries.

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.

The majority of oil used for cooking in our country is U.S.-grown 100% soybean oil!

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

Milk is one of the best sources of calcium. Our bodies absorb 28 percent of the calcium found in milk, but as little as 5 percent of the calcium found in other foods like spinach.

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...

All the wheat grown in Kansas in a single year would fit in a train stretching from western Kansas to the Atlantic Ocean.

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.

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

One cowhide can produce enough leather to make 20 footballs, 18 soccer balls, 18 volleyballs or 12 basketballs.

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.

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

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

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