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Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska

Nonetheless, Kansas is still a major farm state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture counted more than 61,000 farms in Kansas in 2012. In fact, farms make up about 90 percent of the state’s total land area. Kansas ranks number one in the nation for wheat production and flour milling. It is also the nation’s top producer of sorghum, one of the world’s oldest crops. It is thought that sorghum was first brought to the United States on a slave ship from Africa in the late 1700s. Today, the U.S. uses the grain primarily for animal feed. Other major crops grown in Kansas include corn, soybeans, sunflowers, and alfalfa hay. Kansas’s biggest source of agricul- tural revenue comes from cattle—a legacy of the state’s 19th century cow- towns. It is the nation’s third largest producer of cattle. Kansas also has a multi-million dollar meatpacking industry. Central Kansas, in particular, is rich in mineral resources, including oil, coal, and natural gas. According to the Kansas Geological Survey, Kansas pumped about 3.8 million barrels of

An oil pump in a Kansas wheat field. The state has become one of America’s leading produc- ers of oil and natural gas.

A large grain elevator and fertilizer tanks near Alexander.