Fun Facts

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!

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

Looking for a gluten-free grain? Try sorghum! It's gluten-free and packed with protein, iron, vitamin B-6, niacin, magnesium and phosphorus.  

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.

It takes five to six months for a pig to reach market weight (about 265 pounds). One market hog provides about 160 pounds of pork for the grocery store’s meat case.

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

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

More than 87 percent of land in Kansas is farmland.

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

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

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

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

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

One bushel of corn makes 2.8 gallons of ethanol.

One dairy cow can produce more than 3,000 gallons of milk in a year. There are about 160,000 dairy cows in Kansas. That's a lot of milk!

One bale of cotton can make 3,085 diapers.

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.

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

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

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.

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