June 2025
K-State in the news
Some of the top stories mentioning Kansas State University are posted below. Download an Excel file (xls) with all of this month's news stories.
Friday, June 27, 2025
State/Regional
State poet laureate Traci Brimhall brings Kansans to the table with poetry
6/26/25 Kansas Reflector
“One really great direct benefit to my teaching is that I’ve been able to make several internships for students to help with laureate projects,” Brimhall said. “I’m glad I can fund students to do work in arts advocacy. And I am really grateful that Kansas State has been so enthusiastic about my work as laureate. Different departments have invited me to give talks; I’ve done a university podcast on food and poetry; and I gave the commencement speech for the College of Arts & Sciences last spring. I feel arts and humanities often feel overlooked in many academic spaces, and it is wonderful that a land grant institution that has a lot of agricultural focus can also see the value of the arts.”
Think you don’t have brown recluses in your Kansas home? Think again, expert says
6/27/25 The Wichita Eagle
If you’re unsure if you have any in your Kansas home, Kansas State University entomology professor Jeff Whitworth says you most likely do. “I think the brown recluse spider is the most common spider in dwellings or buildings in Kansas, at least in the eastern two-thirds part of the state,” he said. “Even talking about brown recluse spiders or somebody brings it up, they go, ‘Oh God, I’m glad we don’t have them.’ And now I say, ‘I bet you 100 bucks I can go to your house and find cast skin under someplace.’”
Farm incomes rising but set to fall
6/27/25 High Plains Journal
Jennifer Ifft, Flinchbaugh Agricultural Policy Chair at K-State, provided a deeper dive into Kansas net farm incomes. A $2 billion increase in government and insurance payments in 2024-25 is driving the “largest spike in several years” in NFI that could be the second highest on record. Some of those payments are from the American Relief Act of 2024 that are coming through the pipeline now; others are from the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program.
Local
'Connection to their future': USD 383 hosts STEM camp to inspire career interests
6/24/25 The Manhattan Mercury
Licensed teachers direct the workshops with help from interns with the Core Teaching Skills summer course at K-State, providing college students teaching experience by helping instruct courses at the camp. “This partnership has been funded by the DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity) grant, which has provided a lot of opportunities for involvement with our Core Teaching students, for internships during the summer in a non-traditional sense, enabling students in the community to have different educational outlets,” Amanda Lickteig, professor of teaching and Core Teaching Skills co-instructor, said.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
National/International
Expert: EU quotas put more Ukrainian products on global market
6/25/25 Capital Press
“Ukraine will need to diversify its agricultural exports, since export capacity is much higher than Europe is going to buy from Ukraine,” Antonina Broyaka, agricultural economics assistant professor at Kansas State University, said during a June 24 webinar about the trade relationship between Ukraine and the EU. “Ukraine will search for alternative markets, which means there will be high competition on the other markets.”
State/Regional
Tips to keep your pets safe this Fourth of July
6/25/25 KAKE
Kansas State University veterinarian Susan Nelson encourages pet owners to start preparing early, especially if their pet has shown fear around fireworks in the past.
Green invasive beetles devour plants across Kansas
6/25/25 KSNT
27 News got in touch with Professor Raymond Cloyd at Kansas State University this week to learn more about the dangers posed by invasive Japanese beetles in the Sunflower State. The insects are emerging from the ground with the arrival of summer
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
State/Regional
Keep pets safe this Fourth of July with tips from K-State veterinarian
6/25/25 Sunflower State Radio
Kansas State University veterinarian Susan Nelson encourages pet owners to start preparing early, especially if their pet has shown fear around fireworks in the past.
Local
International Delegation visits Kansas for One Health Industry Engagement Days
6/24/25 WIBW
The event was in collaboration with the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, and the Greater Manhattan Economic Partnership.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
National/International
Back from the dead: Once discontinued brands get another chance
6/23/25 Food Dive
About 15,000 new food products are introduced each year, according to Kansas State University, though the majority fail to take off. Some studies estimate 90% of new products launched meet their demise within the first 12 months.
State/Regional
Sky Cats, Kitty Hawks Fly for K-State
6/23/25 KSAL
Four K-State Salina pilots will be winging their way back home after competing in the 48th Air Race Classic.
Monday, June 23, 2025
State/Regional
Iconic McPherson Chimney Sweeper statue off to get repaired after collapsing during storm
6/21/25 KWCH
The world’s largest chimney sweep statue, which has stood tall off Highway 135 near McPherson for years, was brought down by wind gusts reaching up to 80 miles per hour. On Saturday, the statue’s owners and a group of volunteers carefully moved the structure off the property and began preparing it for transport. In the next week, the statue will head to Kansas State University’s Salina campus, where the Aerospace and Technology program will take on its restoration as a class project.
Conference to Highlight Agriculture Artificial Intelligence
6/23/25 KSAL
Ajay Sharda, an agricultural engineer in K-State’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, said feedback from those who use modern technology is an important part of developing effective tools. “We want our producers, our end users, to be part of the journey in terms of development and evolution of these technologies, so that they have trust in these systems,” Sharda said.
Friday, June 20, 2025
State/Regional
From pig waste to plane fuel, K-State engineer leads innovative research
6/18/25 Feedstuffs
Prathap Parameswaran, recipient of the Fornelli Engineering Professorship and associate professor of civil engineering in K-State's Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, received a more than $600,000 grant from BioMADE, a Manufacturing Innovation Institute sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. Parameswaran will collaborate on the project with Iowa State University, which is leading the project, and Quasar Energy Group.
Local
'Blooms, Birds and Butterflies' garden tour to feature six locations
6/20/25 The Manhattan Mercury
At K-State’s garden, the research and extension master gardeners will highlight the Butterfly Garden, Rose Garden, Native Adaptive Garden and Cottage Garden.
Wednesday, June 17, 2025
State/Regional
A Faster Path to Innovation: What AAFCO’s New SRIS Program Means for Animal Food Product Developers
6/16/25 Medium
In April 2025, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), in partnership with Kansas State University’s Olathe Innovation Campus, announced a game-changing regulatory pathway: the Scientific Review of Ingredient Submissions (SRIS) program.
Local
K-State to offer AI in Kansas Ag Conference for future leaders
6/17/25 WIBW
Kansas State University’s AI in Kansas Ag Conference will offer how AI-driven innovations are reshaping the future of farming and food systems for future leaders.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
State/Regional
Explore the future of farming and food systems at K-State’s AI in Kansas Ag Conference
6/16/25 Hutch Post
Artificial intelligence is transforming every aspect of agriculture — from livestock and crop production to horticulture, forestry and sustainable land management. Kansas State University's AI in Kansas Ag Conference will delve into how AI-driven innovations are reshaping the future of farming and food systems.
Local
K-State students can earn bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering starting fall 2025
6/16/25 WIBW
The Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University will add nuclear engineering as its 15th Bachelor of Science degree program.
Monday, June 16, 2025
National/International
Clean Clothes Contribute to On-Farm Safety, Says K-State Expert
6/13/2025 Morning AgClips
Clean clothes might not top the list when thinking about farm safety, but proper hygiene can play a vital role in preventing the spread of disease and chemical exposure, according to Tawnie Larson, program manager for the Kansas Agriculture Safety and Health Program at Kansas State University.
Slowing down pivots can improve water efficiency, yields
6/14/2025 AGRI-VIEW
With irrigation systems running across Kansas fields, a simple adjustment could make a big difference in conserving water and boosting crop performance — slowing down the speed of center pivot systems. Kansas State University water resource engineer Jonathan Aguilar said a simple but often overlooked adjustment — slowing the speed of center pivot irrigation systems — could significantly improve water use efficiency and crop yields.
State/Regional
Federal funding for these ag research labs ended. Now the search is on for new support
6/16/2025 Kansas Public Radio
At Kansas State University, the Climate Resilient Cereal Innovation Lab is continuing its research after a short work stoppage this winter. It's the only Feed the Future lab that continues to get federal funding. Interim lab director Timothy Dalton said he doesn't know why funding for the Cereal Innovation Lab has been continued — but he believes the question should be looked at in another way. "Why were all the other labs terminated?" he asked, "When they're doing such critically important work as we are doing, in order to combat global food insecurity and to generate scientific advances that can be harnessed by the U.S. agricultural community?"
Natural dyes will challenge food companies, says K-State food scientist
6/13/2025 The Times, Pottawatomie County
The U.S. government's move in late April to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation's food supply will challenge food manufacturers to use more natural sources of ingredients in colorful foods, said a Kansas State University food scientist. Karen Blakeslee notes that the source of food colors in the future may come from spices, fruits, vegetables or even cochineal (scale) insects.
Local
K-State students can earn a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering starting fall 2025
6/13/2025 The Mercury
The Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University, with recent approval from the Kansas Board of Regents, will add nuclear engineering as its 15th Bachelor of Science degree program. Offered through the Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, the curriculum of 123 credit hours will be officially available in fall 2025.
Friday, June 13, 2025
National/International
Eggshells could protect dry-cured pork against mites
6/12/25 Watt Ag Net
“In our tests, we were able to prevent mites from laying eggs on pieces of aged hams,” said Tom Phillips, an entomologist at Kansas State University.
State/Regional
Less than ideal conditions challenge wheat at finish line
6/13/25 High Plains Journal
Last fall John Holman, professor in agronomy at Kansas State University and the cropping systems and forage agronomist at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Garden City, didn’t think there would be much of a wheat crop in 2025. “Considering how things looked from December to clear up till April, I didn’t think we were going to have anything there for a while,” he said. Cooler temperatures in May and timely rains in some parts of Kansas helped the wheat crop come out of its tough beginning and start to look much better.
Local
USD 383 hosts STEM workshop
6/12/25 Manhattan Mercury
The workshops are taught by licensed teachers with help from interns with the Core Teaching Skills summer course at K-State. Amanda Lickteig, professor of teaching and Core Teaching Skills co-instructor said, “This partnership has been funded by the DoDEA grant, which has provided a lot of opportunities for involvement with our Core Teaching students, for internships during the summer in a non-traditional sense, enabling students in the community to have different educational outlets.”
Thursday, June 12, 2025
State/Regional
Forage, flexibility and a future with less water
06/11/25 Kansas Farmer
Kansas State University Research and Extension offers a strong foundation of forage research and support. Trials at Hays, Garden City and Belleville evaluate irrigated and dryland systems, including brown midrib sorghum, pearl millet and mixed forages.
Outdoor Meals Tips During Harvest
06/12/25 KSAL
Kansas State University food scientist Karen Blakeslee says meals in the field follow many of the same guidelines for safe picnics and backyard barbecue meals.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
State/Regional
Will Kansas Republicans’ push to ban candy and soda purchases with SNAP actually help people eat healthier?
06/10/25 The Beacon
Priscilla Brenes, an extension assistant professor, works with Kansas State University to promote healthy eating. She said finding time to cook healthy meals, knowing how to properly cook healthy food and food deserts are major barriers to eating healthy.
Timely rains are good for state’s crops, but could it have been too much?
06/10/25 High Plains Journal
On one hand, rain is the lifeblood of agriculture. Many livestock ponds received a timely boost while crop producers – especially wheat growers – needed the rain to increase their chances of a bountiful harvest later this year. But Kansas State University agronomist Tina Sullivan notes that in some cases, crops can get too much water. “Saturated soils and standing water can be a concern to corn,” Sullivan said, noting that persistent, wet conditions can be a breeding ground for crop disease.
Local
Officials unveil new visitors pavilion at Konza Prairie Nature Trail
06/9/25 KMAN/The Manhattan Mercury
The Konza Prairie Nature Trail has a new pavilion. Located at the head of the trail, the new pavilion boasts trail maps, ecological information and area history. K-State professor and director of the Konza Prairie Biological Station John Blair said the pavilion is a gateway to the nature trail. "It's a place where visitors can come to experience the tall grass prairie, to hike the landscape and to to see the diversity that makes this such a special place," Blair said.
K-State Gardens raising funds with summer soirée fun
06/9/25 KMAN/The Manhattan Mercury
Surrounded by the peaceful backdrop of water fountains and colorful flowers in K-State’s botanical garden, party guests sipped gin and tonics while socializing before dinner on Friday night. The summer soirée showcased the hard work of K-State’s gardeners and raised money for the future of horticulture. “This is our 150th anniversary of having the gardens on campus,” Scott McElwain, director of the K-State gardens, said. “This party tonight is actually an annual fundraiser.”
McCain Performance Series to return this fall
06/10/25 KMAN/The Manhattan Mercury
Priscilla Brenes, an extension assistant professor, works with Kansas State University to promote healthy eating. She said finding time to cook healthy meals, knowing how to properly cook healthy food and food deserts are major barriers to eating healthy.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
National/International
The Farmers Harmed by the Trump Administration
06/09/25 The New Yorker
Scientists at Kansas State University, working with colleagues at Cornell and in Haiti, acquired a resistant variety of sorghum from partners in Ethiopia, and tested it against strains susceptible to the sugarcane aphid, or Melanaphis sacchari, an insect barely one-sixteenth of an inch long, the thickness of a penny. Its coloring ranges from beige to yellow, and it has tiny black antennas and tiny black feet. Its life span is only a few weeks, but in that time one female can produce nearly a hundred offspring, peppering sorghum plants with larvae that look like sawdust and suck nutrients from the leaves, stunting the plants.
K-State Lab Remains Vigilant Toward Protecting Food Systems
06/09/25 Morning Ag Clips
Americans trust the safety and security of their food. Kansas State University plant pathologist Jim Stack says our trust is well-founded, pointing to a series of checks and balances that help to ensure that the food we eat arrives safely and on time at the dinner table.
K-State Applied Swine Nutrition Team to Receive Don L. Good Impact Award
06/09/25 Farms.com
A team of current and former Kansas State University faculty members and students that has driven progress in swine nutrition and management for more than three decades has been named the 2025 recipient of the Don L. Good Impact Award. The K-State applied swine nutrition team will be recognized at the K-State Department of Animal Science and Industry’s Family & Friends Reunion on Saturday, Oct. 18 at the Stanley Stout Center in Manhattan.
State/Regional
Using Drones to Aid Feedyard Sustainability
06/10/25 KSAL.com
Kansas State University researchers are working on a project to analyze the opportunities available by using drone thermal imaging in cattle feed yards. In a recent episode of Cattle Chat, guest Haley Larson, assistant professor in animal nutrition and health at K-State Olathe, described their project and findings. “To start off, we needed to determine the type of samples in these feedlot pens that could better detect pen management, especially as you have different environmental conditions, different manure outputs, moisture content,” Larson said. “Then, we wanted to find out if we could capture that same pen management findings in a thermal image from a drone.”
Monday, June 9, 2025
National/International
Rethinking pest control as a nutritional investment
6/6/2025 Feed&Grain
A recent wheat milling yield trial conducted by Dr. Jeff Gwirtz, adjunct faculty member at Kansas State University’s Department of Grain Science and Industry, developed a financial model to illustrate how seemingly small losses from insect infestation compound throughout the production process of flour mills.
3 Factors Fueling Americans' Obsession with Protein
6/6/2025 Drovers
"Meat protein, not just pork or not just beef, but meat is having a moment. I'm an economist, so I have concerns on the macroeconomic front, but it is exciting to be in an era where the public's desire for meat protein is growing," says Glynn Tonsor, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University.
State/Regional
Annual K-State Garden Party celebrates 150 years
6/6/2025 WIBW
K-State’s Gardens have stood strong for 150 years. For the next 50-100 years, K-State President Richard Linton hopes to see the gardens be centralized in the University’s master plan. "I'd like to see the gardens incorporated into the master plan of the University," Linton told 13 NEWS. "That's actually going to be centralized and focalized."
From Topeka neighborhood to Kansas farms, this program promotes digital skills
6/8/2025 Salina Journal
How K-State will promote AI among Kansas farmers and ranchers: Kansas State University is receiving about $210,000 for a statewide digital agriculture navigator project. The project summary said artificial intelligence, machine learning and other digital technology innovations have the potential to benefit agriculture.
Friday, June 6, 2025
National/International
Empowering the Next Generation: Youth for the Quality Care of Animals Supports Future Leaders With $30,000 in Scholarships
6/5/25 Morning Ag Clips
Ally Rietcheck of Gardner, Kansas was awarded $2,500 and will attend Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.
Local
High school students preview college life at 4-H Discovery Days
6/5/25 Manhattan Mercury
Kansas 4-H gives high schoolers the college experience each year at Discovery Days, where students can visit K-State and take classes to get familiar with a college schedule.
Thursday, June 5, 2025
State/Regional
K-State youth development agent shares ideas for activities with children
6/5/25 Rural Messenger
“A really easy activity that you can do with young children is make your own chalk paint,” said Tristen Cope, a family and youth development agent in K-State Research and Extension’s Chisholm Trail District.
Kansas winter wheat crop benefiting from rain
6/4/25 Brownfield
An extension agronomist with Kansas State University says recent rainfall could help increase winter wheat yields. Tina Sullivan, who covers northeast Kansas, says moisture in the last two weeks has improved crop conditions. “We were a little concerned when the USDA came out with that 40 to 50 bushels per acre and some of our wheat fields because I thought how are we going make it? Now, we’ve gotten that timely rain so we should probably get to that 40-to-50-bushel range, maybe even more.”
Historian on WW II Home Front at Museum Thursday
6/4/25 KSAL
Dr. Andrew Orr, author, speaker, professor of History, and director of the Institute of Military History at Kansas State University joined in on the KSAL Morning News Extra with a look ahead to his presentation coming up at the Smoky Hill Museum on Thursday.
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
National/International
How to Have a Social Life Without Going Broke This Summer
06/02/25 Relevant
Socializing in your 20s and 30s often comes with a price tag — sometimes one you can’t actually afford. According to CreditKarma, 40 percent of millennials have spent money they didn’t have just to keep up with friends. “It’s easy to assume it’s fine to use debt to support current spending because ‘everyone is doing it,’” said Dr. Sonya Britt-Lutter, a personal financial planner and professor at Kansas State University. “The use of debt cannot be an isolated decision. It is directly tied to current and future income.”
Rare G4 alert for geomagnetic storm could lead to GPS outages
06/02/25 Brownfield Ag News
A cropping systems specialist says that major disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere will continue to disrupt GPS navigation for farmers into next year. “We’re still in what space scientists call the battle zone.” Terry Griffin with Kansas State University says geomagnetic storms occur about every 11 years after solar sunspot maximum and can impact GPS signals. “That means for the rest of the 2025 season – planting, summer, mid-season applications and harvest – we will still be vulnerable to solar activity even into the spring of 2026.”
State/Regional
K-State Opens Swine Nursery Facility, Hails Research Benefits to Producers
06/02/25 Farms.com
Kansas State University animal scientists are hailing the opening of a new swine nursery facility on the north side of the university’s Manhattan campus as another step toward improving profitability and efficiency for swine producers in Kansas and beyond. Joel DeRouchey, a swine specialist with K-State Research and Extension, said the new facility at the university’s Swine Research and Teaching Center will be used to study the best ways to manage nursery pigs, or those who have been weaned but not yet ready for the finishing facility.
Monday, June 2, 2025
National/International
Red Alert: A Louisiana refinery spilled toxic waste into the community and knew about it for months
6/2/25 Yahoo News
Ganga Hettiarachchi, a Kansas State University professor of soil and environmental chemistry, said cadmium could pose the greatest long-term risk because it spreads easily and accumulates in living organisms over time. Enough small doses during a given time period can add up to a fatal dose, she said.
State/Regional
Brushing Away Bovine Stress
6/2/25 KSAL
A new product that reduces animal stress could be the key to increasing artificial insemination rates in cattle. Kansas State University’s Technology Development Institute, or TDI, collaborated with faculty in the College of Agriculture to design, produce and test the product.
Local
Local scouts immersed in the world of pets and animals to earn merit badge
5/31/25 WIBW
That was followed by a free afternoon event for the entire community to interact with various pet-related organizations, including Helping Hands Humane Society, Team Kitten, K-State Mobile Veterinary Unit, Kansas Search and Rescue Dog Assoc, Street Dog Coalition, Camo Cross Dog Training, and Suds & Snoots Dog Grooming.