Fun Facts

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.

One bale of cotton can make 1,256 pillowcases.

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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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

One acre of soybeans can make 82,368 crayons!

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

The largest market for field corn is to provide feed for animals like cattle, pigs, chicken, and even catfish. 

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

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.  

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

A finished bale of cotton weighs about 480 pounds.

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 Kansas has an official state soil? It's called Harney silt loam and it covers about 4 million acres of land in our state. 

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

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