From the Kansas Historical Society:
Kansas is known as the "Wheat State" and "Breadbasket of the World." Farming has been a way of life in Kansas, impacting its politics, laws, innovations, culture, social customs, and traditions. The economy relies on many agricultural businesses including those related to storing, transporting, and processing farm products.
Some of the earliest people to live in this area were gardeners. In addition to hunting for game, early people gathered and ate wild plants. The best seeds were saved and planted in soil near their homes, beginning the tradition of farming. Usually the role of women, these people used buffalo bones as tools to plant and harvest crops. Corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers, were grown and harvest was stored underground in pits. Plantings would often occur in the spring just before families headed west for the hunting season. They would return from hunting in time for harvest.
To read more about the history of agriculture in Kansas, click here.
