Fun Facts

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

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. 

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

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

Did you know some of the fertilizer farmers add to the soil comes from the air we breathe? Companies can convert nitrogen in the air into nitrogen to nourish the ground.

Small engines like lawnmowers and boats can use E10 fuel.

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...

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.

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

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

Compared with 50 years ago, pig farmers are using 41% less water to produce a pound of pork, with a 35% smaller carbon footprint.

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

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

Cattle are great recyclers. They convert natural resources that would otherwise be wasted into beef, an edible protein containing 10 essential nutrients such as zinc, iron and B vitamins.  

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!

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

Kansas exports more than $4.8 billion in agricultural products per year.

One bale of cotton can make 4,312 mid-calf socks.

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!

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

One Kansas farmer raises enough food to feed about 155 people!