Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Crops/stock in Kansas

Hi all

Does anyone know what sort of stock and/or crops would be typical for a farm in Kansas?

Many thanks,

Corrina.

Hi Corrina:
Wheat, corn, cattle and hogs. Chickens for mostly local consumption. Here's a cool interactive map I found: http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/#animal:cattle;location:KS;year:2007 You can find any state in the union and the nation as a whole.
Historically, Kansas was part of the great midwest cattle drives of the 1800's and early 1900s. Kansas City grew up as a railroad terminus to ship beef east to the eastern cities. There is lush grass in the north and east parts of Kansas.
Workers in Kansas used to follow the harvest north to the plains of Canada as a group, getting paid to harvest the crops along the way. That isn't done anymore.
Now, I believe, cotton is supplanting some of the food crops.
Let me know if you need more.
regards
Artemis

It depends on what type of farming you're writing about. There is a homesteading movement going on all over the country- probably all over the world- where people are buying farmland and using it to grow food and stock to provide food for themselves and for sale at farmer's markets. Because of the many contaminant recalls of produce in recent years there is a demand for organically grown food and animals. Even family farms are moving over to growing garden produce rather than crops like wheat and corn. A neighbor to the south of me grows tomatoes and melons for local supermarket chains instead of traditional crops and makes a good living at it. Goats are also becoming prevalent as stock. Because of religious beliefs a lot of immigrant families in the area can't eat mass produced meat and prefer to buy goats and calves from farmers and handle the slaughter themselves at local meat markets to insure "clean" meat for their families. Another neighbor of mine raises goats and cattle for that demand.
I'm a veterinarian and my profession is affected by the homesteaders who won't treat their stock with chemicals/medication when they get sick or have infections.

My post just up and posted itself.
I meant to add that times are changing even for family farms. If you can get more for melons or peppers or edamame (soybeans) than wheat per acre...you do. I won't even mention tree farms.

Artemis and RJS

Thank you both so much. That link you posted was really helpful, Artemis. I'm going to keep it for future reference.

RJS - I don't need it too recent - I'm back in the mid nineties in my story. Also, I was thinking of your everyday Jonathan Kent type farmer rather than 'fringe' (is that the right word?) establishments.

Thanks again.

Corrina.

Don't knock "fringing," it's been going on since the 70s. The publicity has been recent. My parents stopped farming their land in the early 80s when I was in junior high (13 to 15 years old.) The US discovered it was cheaper to import wheat, corn, and other crops than to pay fair prices to US farmers. So, many family farms went broke and were abandoned. Luckily my parents had hickory and hazel trees on their land and so were able to harvest and sell the nuts to stay afloat. It put their kids through college.

Jonathan is a lucky man, though, so it's possible he made it through that time and kept his land productive with traditional crops and stock without loss of income. It's fiction after all and there is always a happy ending in Smallville. Plus, the Kents live on a map, not the actual land.

Keeping quiet from now on.