4 months ago
Harvest moves steadily across the state of Kansas while navigating through a challenging season. Producers have reported being delayed in harvest due to scattered thunderstorms in their areas; others are reporting they have completed harvest for the season. Derek Sawyer, a farmer in McPherson County, reported finishing up wheat harvest on June 15. “We started cutting but ...

4 months ago
The Kansas Beef Council (KBC) last week hosted an On the Farm STEM experience for 24 Kansas educators representing middle and high school science classrooms from both rural and urban communities across the state. The educators learned to use food and agriculture as a vehicle for teaching science while building students’ understanding of where their ...

4 months ago
Kansas wheat harvest continues to advance despite challenges from drought, freeze damage and market volatility. Producers report generally below-average yields and acceptable quality, with residue management and untimely weather playing key roles in this year’s crop. Lane Klepper, a producer from Barton County, reported that his family started harvest on June 5, and is three days ...

4 months ago
Harvest is well underway across the state, with progress varying by region. According to the Kansas Wheat Commission, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service crop progress report ending June 14th indicates wheat harvest is 28 percent complete, well ahead of last year. Winter wheat conditions were rated 25 percent very poor, 32 percent poor, 29 percent ...

4 months ago
As more Kansas farmers consider practices like no-till and cover crops, a common question remains: Do soil health practices pay off? Research presented by Kansas State University agricultural policy specialist Jennifer Ifft at a soil health field day suggests the answer may depend less on how many practices are adopted, and more on how well those ...

4 months ago
The New World screwworm has arrived in the United States. For years, ranchers across Southern states have prepared for a potential invasion of the flesh-eating parasite that can wreak havoc on livestock, pets and even humans. Though the United States went decades without a confirmed case of the invasive pest, it’s now made its way across the ...

4 months ago
Researchers with the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station are testing two treatments that may help ranchers protect their cattle from theileriosis, which is caused by the parasite Theileria orientalis Ikeda, carried primarily by the Asian longhorned tick. Cases of the disease in Arkansas increased drastically in 2025, just a year after being confirmed in ...

4 months ago
Building a productive cow herd does not begin when a heifer is bred for the first time. According to experts on Kansas State University's Beef Cattle Institute Cattle Chat podcast, the foundation for long-term success is established much earlier through genetics, health management and nutrition decisions made from the first days of life. On a recent episode of Cattle ...

5 months ago
Combines will soon be rolling across Kansas for wheat harvest, with other crops not too far in the future. Part of the tradition in farm country is feeding the people working to bring in the harvest. Kansas State University food scientist Karen Blakeslee says meals in the field follow many of the same guidelines for safe ...

5 months ago
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed a second case of New World screwworm (NWS) Friday after testing a number of suspect cases. The second case was found in a 1-month-old calf about 5.6 miles away from the original case. It is within the established movement control zone and enhanced sterile insect dispersal ...

5 months ago
“Ready wheat doesn’t like wet feet” After months of drought, above-average temperatures, multiple freeze damage events, and rapid crop development, producers were test-cutting wheat in late May and preparing for what looked like one of the earliest harvests in recent history. Across much of southern Kansas, the crop matured weeks ahead of normal as dry, windy ...