Fun Facts

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 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.

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

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. 

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.

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.

More than 87 percent of land in Kansas is farmland.

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

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

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

Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica. 

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

One bale of cotton can make 3,085 diapers.

One acre of soybeans can make 82,368 crayons!

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!

A bushel of soybeans weighs 60 pounds and produces 11 pounds of oil and 48 pounds of soybean meal.

Wheat flour is a good source of complex carbohydrates and contains protein. Plus, it’s low in fat and sodium.

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

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

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

A finished bale of cotton weighs about 480 pounds.