K-State in the news — March 2025
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.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
State/Regional
KU community invited to University Research Awards event April 9
3/11/25 KU News Service
Two Kansas State University faculty have been recognized with Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards. Hans Coetzee has been awarded the Irvin E. Youngberg Award in the Applied Sciences. Walter Dodds has been awarded the Olin K. Petefish Award in Basic Sciences. The University of Kansas will host its annual University Research Awards event at 7 p.m. April 9 at the Jayhawk Welcome Center to celebrate this year’s research awards winners.
Local
Control Guide For Livestock Predators
3/10/25 KSAL-AM
Based on 2020 market values, predators cause approximately $4 million in losses annually to Kansas cattle producers. Likewise, they financially burden the state’s small ruminant operations to the tune of about $750,000 per year. To mitigate the economic impact and other effects of predation, Kansas State University wildlife specialist Drew Ricketts said producers have various non-lethal control methods available to keep livestock safe.
Monday, March 10, 2025
National/International
The 18-year-old World War I corporal behind Fort Benning's renaming
3/07/2025 MilitaryTimes
Still, the circumstances of the change — and a similar one for North Carolina's once-and-future Fort Bragg — have skeptics wondering whether their new namesakes are receiving much of an honor. But Fred Benning deserves recognition, said Andrew Orr, a professor and director of the Institute for Military History at Kansas State University. Benning was part of American assaults on the toughest German defenses by soldiers who fought to take trenches and to hold them, often hand-to-hand and under clouds of poison gas, he said. "If you're the town that Benning was the mayor of, claim it," Orr said in an interview Thursday. "What you can do is try and fight back against the stealing of his name by emphasizing this guy earned it."
Researcher cracks the code of livestock pain relief
3/07/2025 AgUpdate
…like any language, the expression and understanding of pain is a learned form of communication — one that's especially difficult to pick up across species. For farm animals, though, Hans Coetzee has cracked the code. Coetzee, university distinguished professor of animal welfare in Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has dedicated much of his career to assessing and relieving pain in livestock species. His work has been instrumental in clearing the way for the first regulatory approval of livestock analgesics, or pain relief medicine, that has eased the pain of millions of animals.
Cow-Derived Avian Flu Can Infect Pigs but Doesn't Spread Among Them, Preprint Suggests
3/07/2025 Farms.com
"Pigs are an important reservoir in influenza ecology because they serve as a mixing vessel in which novel reassortant viruses with pandemic potential can be generated," the Kansas State University-led research team wrote. They noted influenza viruses' ability to cross species barriers: "Since HPAI H5 clade 2.3.4.4b became dominant in wild bird populations, spillovers to mammalian hosts have been frequently reported worldwide, indicating that viruses possessing the 2.3.4.4b HA [hemagglutinin] may have improved ability to replicate in mammals compared to other HPAI lineages."
State/Regional
Invasive species experts train dogs to detect plant pests
3/07/2025 High Plains Journal
In a quest to slow the spread of a sap-sucking plant pest that is slowly making its way across the United States, pest management officials have turned to man's best friend. Kansas State University wildlife expert Drew Ricketts said conservationists are training dogs to smell out the Spotted lanternfly, described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service as "a hitchhiking pest that is native to Asia."
Small town grocery stores face unique challenges. Some Midwest states are trying to help
3/10/2025 Kansas Public Radio
In Kansas, 54 rural grocery stores in Kansas permanently closed between 2008 and 2018. The Rural Grocery Initiative, based at Kansas State University Research and Extension, developed after a series of listening sessions with rural communities in 2007. "During those listening sessions, the thing that kept coming up and again and again was this concern about the local grocery store. People really worried about the viability of their store, wanting to make sure that it could be maintained over the long term," said Erica Blair, Rural Grocery Initiative's program manager.
Local
K-State students earn fall 2024 semester honors
3/07/2025 Salina Post
More than 1,300 students completed degree requirements from Kansas State University in the fall 2024, while more than 4,600 Kansas State University students earned semester honors for their academic performance. The university awarded approximately 900 bachelor's degrees, 250 master's degrees and 80 doctorates. Several students earned multiple degrees.
Friday, March 7, 2025
State/Regional
K-State agricultural economists explain farm bill and crop insurance options
3/6/25 High Plains Journal
Kansas State University agricultural economists are encouraging farmers to make time now to fully think through their options in advance of upcoming deadlines for federal farm and crop insurance programs that can offer financial assistance.
Local
How K-State is combatting bird flu and preventing foreign animal diseases
3/6/25 KSNT
The Director of the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, Jamie Retallick, joins the 27 News Morning crew with a look into the work the state’s only public diagnostic veterinary lab does. A big focus with the lab is fighting against diseases, including aiding in the fight against bird flu and prevention for foot and mouth disease.
Brady Kappelmann and Zoey Pudenz elected as K-State's new student body president and vice president
3/7/25 Wildcat 91.9
Kansas State University students have elected their new student government leaders for the 2025-2026 academic year. The results, announced Thursday, March 6 on Wildcat 91.9, showed that 8% of the student body voted in this year's election. Brady Kappelmann and Zoey Pudenz secured the student body president and vice president positions with 88.28% of the vote, garnering 1,439 votes out of 1,630 cast.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
National/International
‘Bear with me,’ Trump says as both farmers and consumers brace for tariff effects
3/5/25 AP News
“Exactly how strong our economy is over time has a lot to do with U.S. consumers’ comfort with continuing to go out to restaurants and continuing to buy washers and dryers and just that general activity. And a lot of what we’re talking about here is probably going to slow some of that,” said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University.
State/Regional
Every drop counts: Lessons from the most efficient TAPS farm
3/4/25 Farm Progress
Kansas State University's 2024 Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) competition revealed that more inputs don’t always mean better results. The most efficient farm balanced water and nitrogen use to produce competitive yields without excess, challenging conventional high-input practices and offering insights for maximizing efficiency and profit.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
National/International
'But Americans voted for change'
3/5/25 Farmers Advance/USA Today
We do know that researchers at Kansas State University have found that every USAID dollar invested in the U.S. – for jobs, infrastructure, commodity purchases, packaging, shipping – shows "a return of $8.52.”
State/Regional
New tariffs on Canada, Mexico likely to impact Kansans
3/4/25 KWCH
Kansas State University Economics Professor Dr. Peri da Silva said with 25% tariffs, a $44,000 car could jump in price by $8,000 to $10,000. “We are going to see some firms absorbing costs but firing people, letting people go,” da Silva said. “Others are going to push for price increases. There is no way with tariffs of this magnitude, 25%. We are about to see a very steep price for consumers in the United States, double digits.”
Topeka startup hub launches diverse entrepreneur community
3/4/25 Startland News
Topeka Startup Community’s other resource partners include K-State 105, Network Kansas, AltCap, GO Topeka, the Kansas Department of Commerce, Kansas Health Foundation, and Washburn Small Business Development Center.
Local
Walk Kansas will celebrate 25 years
3/4/25 JC Post
You can register a team of six or go solo this year. Register online at WalkKansas.org or by contacting your local K-State Research and Extension office.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
National/International
Updated standards published for feeding wheat to pigs
3/3/25 The Pig Site
Kansas State University researchers and representatives of Kansas Wheat have published updated findings on the value of feeding wheat to pigs. What they’ve found is good news for swine producers and wheat growers. “Our data collected from 2014 to 2020 suggests that wheat’s mean energy content is 99% and 98% of corn for digestible energy and metabolizable energy, respectively” said Joel DeRouchey, a swine specialist for Kansas State Research and Extension.
State/Regional
Kansas Grain Sorghum Yields Spike Despite Record-High Heat in 2024
3/4/25 High Plains Journal
Compared to most other farm crops grown in Kansas, grain sorghum has a reputation for being tolerant to heat, and in 2024, that was a good thing. The National Centers for Environmental Information reports that 2024 was the second warmest year on record in Kansas over the past 130 years, with an average daily temperature of 57.5 degrees Fahrenheit – 3.4 degrees above normal. And yet, says Kansas State University assistant agronomist Jane Lingenfelser, the state’s grain sorghum yielded an average 65 bushels per acre – 13 bushels higher than the previous year.
Local
K-State selected to house Animal and Veterinary Innovation Center
3/4/25 Junction City Post
Kansas State University has been selected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine as one of four Animal and Veterinary Innovation Centers to receive funding for advancing regulatory science. K-State’s center will focus on developing reliable models to evaluate the efficacy of analgesics in food animals, specifically aimed at providing pain relief for pigs, goats, and cattle undergoing painful conditions or surgeries.
Monday, March 3, 2025
National/International
Farmers Test Innovative Water-Saving Strategies in Kansas Competition
2/28/2025 Morning Ag Clips
According to Daran Rudnick, director of sustainable irrigation at Kansas State University, the TAPS program in Kansas is unlike traditional yield-focused competitions in that it offers a unique experimental environment at K-State Research and Extension's Western Kansas Research-Extension Centers. "This exchange of ideas ensures that the competition's outcomes are rooted in real challenges, and helps drive meaningful progress in efficiency, profitability and sustainability," Rudnick said.
K-State Researchers Developing Index to Measure Cattle Pain, Stress Using Consumption Rate
2/28/2025 Farms.com
How much can you tell about a cow's health by the way and rate at which it eats? A team of researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University is developing a way to tie that rate to cattle health. Hans Coetzee, currently the interim vice president of research at Kansas State University, is a well-established researcher in the fields of pain relief and animal welfare. He and Eduarda Bortoluzzi, assistant professor of animal welfare, are leading a project titled, "Validation of a novel Bovine Rate of Consumption Index (BROCI) to assess pain and thermal stress in cattle." … The K-State team's project uses a rancher-developed, precision feed intake measuring system to validate a Bovine Rate of Consumption Index, or BROCI, as an objective measure of animal welfare.
State/Regional
Sunflowers encountered fewer pests in Kansas
2/28/2025 High Plains Journal
Sunflowers have seen fewer pest problems the last five years, according to Jeff Whitworth, Kansas State University department of entomology. The sunflower head moth has been the No. 1 insect pest in sunflowers for the past 20 years, he reported in results published by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. For the past five to six years, the head moth has not been as problematic, but infestations have been common, he said.
Local
K-State launches AI chatbot that checks in on students
2/27/2025 KSNT
Kansas State University is rolling out a new AI-powered chatbot that will text students periodically throughout the year. According to a news release from the university, students got their first text from "Willie" in January. The AI chatbot being introduced in partnership with EdSights, an AI chatbot company, will text students about a dozen times throughout the semester to check in on health, social and academic wellbeing and the student's finances.
