Kansas farmers planted more corn, sorghum crops this year

? Kansas farmers are growing more acres of corn and sorghum this season than they did last year.

Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Thursday growers in Kansas seeded 5.1 million acres of corn. That is 5 percent more corn than last year and the largest corn acreage planted since 1936.

The agency says the 2.5 million acres of sorghum plantings in Kansas is still the largest planted acreage in the nation, up 6 percent from a year ago.

Soybean plantings are estimated at 3.9 million acres in Kansas. That figure is down 9 percent from last year’s record high.

About 147,000 acres of sunflowers also were planted in Kansas, up 6 percent from a year ago.

The estimated 8.8 million acres of winter wheat seeded last fall remained unchanged.