Fun Facts

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.

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

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.

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

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

Small engines like lawnmowers and boats can use E10 fuel.

One bushel of corn makes 2.8 gallons of ethanol.

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

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

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

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!

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

Did you know there are 15,000 soybean farms in Kansas? In 2016, Kansas farmers harvested more than 4 million acres of soybeans.

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

Fertilizer contains a lot of helpful nutrients, thanks to Mother Nature! Potash, which is salt from ancient evaporated oceans, is used in fertilizer to feed our soil.

There are 7 different breeds of dairy cattle. Farmers choose their breeds based on milk production, size and even personality.

There are more than 300 licensed dairy herds in Kansas with about 143,000 cows total. In 2015 cows produced about 365 million gallons of milk, making Kansas the 16th largest milk producing state.

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

Kansas grows winter wheat that is planted and sprouts in the fall, becomes dormant in the winter, grows again in the spring and is harvested in early summer.

Pork tenderloin is as lean as a skinless chicken breast.

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