Discover the Top 10 Most Valuable Crops Harvested in Kansas

Nicknamed The Sunflower State, Kansas is iconically home to fields, fields, and more fields. Kansas is an important state located in the Corn Belt, which is a stretch of midwestern states that produce more corn than the rest of America combined.

The population of Kansas is just under 3 million folks, and 10% of them work in the agriculture business. It’s no small task to produce the amount of crops that Kansas produces on a yearly basis.

While it’s clear that corn is on this list, what are the other most valuable crops harvested in Kansas? Yearly, the United States Department of Agriculture publishes a few lists that help readers understand the crops grown in the United States. Here’s a summary of what the top 10 most valuable crops grown in The Sunflower State are. Hint: you’ll learn why Kansas earned that name!

10. Canola

The tenth most valuable crop produced in Kansas is canola. 7,000 acres of canola-growing land were harvested in 2022. The product produced $684,000 in value in 2022.

North Dakota is the number one state, producing 85% of the canola made in the United States. They produce almost a billion dollars of the stuff, bringing in $977,859,000 in value in 2022. While most of us are only familiar with canola oil, canola is a flowering plant that produces amazing “fields of gold.”

9. Barley

Barley comes in ninth place when looking at crops that produce the most value in the state of Kansas. Kansas has 15,000 acres dedicated to the plant and, in 2022, produced 165,000 BU of the grain. Kansas produced $1,089,000 worth of barley in 2022. While that is certainly a lot of barley, Kansas didn’t compete when it comes to top producers in America!

Barley is a massive industry in the United States. While Kansas produced over a million dollars in revenue from the crop, the state landed in 22nd place overall. The top state for barley production was Idaho. Idaho has 540,000 harvested acres of barley which brought in $449,550,000 in value in 2022. What’s interesting is that barley isn’t even Idaho’s top crop! Hay and potatoes are two of Idaho’s most valuable crops.

Barley appears in a lot of different foods in the United States. It can show up in protein bars, beer, cereals, and even in food coloring! The crop is the fourth most popular grain crop in the entire world, following wheat, rice, and corn. While there are many uses for the grain, the most common use is animal fodder. Pigs and horses love barley!

8. Oats

Another crop that’s important to the state of Kansas is oats. Kansas grows oats on just over 100,000 acres of land, and in 2022, they harvested over a million BUs of the crop from 25,000 acres. This produced over five million dollars in value. Kansas produced 1.8% of the total oats in the country in 2022.

Once again, the #1 spot for oat production is held by North Dakota. The state harvested 190,000 acres of the product and oats produced $65,427,000 in value in 2022. Oats are somehow even lower than canola on North Dakota’s roster, being their tenth most valuable good grown in the state. North Dakota is really producing some serious agriculture!

Oats are used for a lot of things in the United States. Recognizably, oats are used for oatmeal and for cooking. However, agriculturally, oat grows fantastic hay that’s used for a number of different purposes. Cattle eat oats because of the fiber content of the product, for example.

7. Sunflower

Kansas’s namesake, the sunflower, is seventh on the list of most valuable crops grown in the state. In 2022, Kansas grew 42,000 acres of sunflower. 36,500 harvested acres produced $12,189,000 in value. Clearly, each acre of sunflower is significantly more valuable than each acre of, say, oats! Half the acreage produced more than double the value in 2022.

Unfortunately, despite being named after the flower, Kansas is only the sixth-place producer of sunflowers in the States. Once again, North Dakota takes the first-place spot. North Dakota grew 717,000 acres of sunflower in 2022, and the 698,000 harvested acres produced $384,239,000 in value. It is interesting to note, however, that the value per unit is a little bit less in North Dakota than in Kansas.

The primary uses for sunflower in the United States are cooking oil and meal. Meal is produced when oil is produced and is then turned into a part of what livestock are fed. Of course, people also purchase sunflowers as decoration and enjoy sunflower seeds, so there are more than a few uses for the product.

6. Cotton

Cotton comes in sixth place for most valuable crops produced in Kansas. Kansas had planted 165,000 acres of upland cotton growing in 2022. The 138,000 harvested acres produced $80,352,000 in value for the state.

Texas took the first place spot for cotton production in the United States. Texas planted 7,850,000 acres of cotton in 2022 and reared $1,323,448,000 in value from the crop. And that’s just upland cotton. Texas also grew 33,000 acres of Pima cotton in 2022.

Cotton is an extremely versatile product. 75% of cotton grown in the United States is used for apparel. Furniture and industrial products are the second and third biggest uses for cotton. The US also exports a significant amount of the crop annually. In 2021/22, the US was the leading exporter of cotton in the world.

5. Sorghum

In 2022, the state of Kansas harvested 2,700,000 acres of sorghum for grain. This massive harvest brought the state $737,100,000 in value in 2022. And finally, Kansas ranked number one in the production of a crop in the United States!

In 2022, Kansas produced 56.1% of the sorghum for grain produced in the country. The state was trailed by Texas, which produced $304,517,000 in value in the year 2022. Texas did, however, produce the most sorghum for silage, harvesting 175,000 acres worth, while Kansas only harvested 105,000 acres for this purpose.

Sorghum is a plant that, from afar, doesn’t look too different from corn. However, up close, you can see that the cob is in fact, a flower. Sorghum, also called milo in the United States, is a member of the grass family. The crop is used for feed, biofuels, and more.

4. Hay & Haylage

The fourth most valuable crop grown in Kansas is hay. In 2022, there were 2,690,000 acres of harvested acres of hay and haylage in the state. This produced $967,184,000 in value for Kansas. Kansas ranked third for hay and haylage production in the US in 2022, producing 4.8% of the hay grown in the country.

Once again, Texas took the first place spot for hay production. The Lonestar State harvested 4,325,000 acres of hay and haylage and produced $1,288,050,000 in value. Over a billion dollars worth of hay certainly warrants a gold medal for Texas!

Hay in the United States is used primarily to feed livestock. It’s an important good for all seasons, but particularly useful in the winter, when grazing isn’t an option. All sorts of farm animals eat the crop, making it a vital part of the United States agricultural scene. Because so many animals need it, the States need to grow a lot of it. And we certainly do!

3. Soybeans

Soybeans take the third spot for most valuable crops grown in the state of Kansas! In 2022, there were 5,050,000 all-purpose acres of soybeans and farmers harvested 4,810,000 acres. This produced $1,904,760 in value. Despite producing almost two billion dollars worth of soybeans, Kansas is ranked eleventh in the States. Kansas produces only 3.1% of the nation’s soybeans.

Illinois is the first-place grower of soybeans in the United States. In 2022, the state planted 10,800,000 acres of soybeans and harvested 10,750,00 acres, producing just under 10 billion dollars worth of soybeans. That makes Kansas’s two billion look tiny!

The majority of soybeans in the United States are used for agricultural purposes. 70% of the product is consumed by animals as animal feed. Of the many animals that enjoy soybeans as feed, poultry is the primary consumer.

2. Wheat

The second most valuable crop grown in Kansas is wheat. In 2022, there were 7,300,000 all-purpose acres, rearing 6,600,000 harvested acres. This massive agricultural investment produced a substantial amount of value. Kansas produced $2,148,960,000 in value from the crop in 2022.

Kansas was the second most valuable wheat-growing state in the country in 2022, producing 14.8% of all wheat value in the United States. North Dakota took the first-place spot, harvesting 6,135,00 acres of wheat that produced $2,766,515,000. The cost-per-unit in North Dakota was higher than in Kansas, so a smaller amount of acres yielded a higher value.

Wheat is extremely valuable to the economy of the United States. In fact, 50% of all the wheat grown in the States is exported to other countries. Of the remaining 50% of wheat produced, most is consumed by humans in the form of flour. Wheat is also an ingredient of livestock feed.

1. Corn

And finally, we’ve reached the #1 most valuable crop grown in Kansas. It’s corn! In 2022, there were 5,500,000 acres of all-purpose corn planted. Farmers harvested 4,440,000 acres of grain corn, and that produced $3,676,320,000 in value. Kansas produced 3.7% of the corn used for grain in the States.

The first-place producer of grain corn in 2022 was Iowa. Farmers in Iowa harvested 12,350,000 acres of the crop and produced $16,864,000,000 in value from corn in 2022. Most of Iowa’s corn crop heads straight to ethanol production.

Corn serves a lot of purposes in the United States. As mentioned above, it’s an important part of the production process for ethanol gas. Additionally, corn is an ingredient in animal feed. Finally, it’s a valuable part of food production in the US. Americans eat corn in the form of oil, sweetener, and alcohol.

Kansas grows a wide variety of crops and creates billions of dollars of value annually from its agriculture sector. The state plays an important role in the agricultural industry of the United States. Kansas’s contributions are massive, and go far beyond its namesake!