Harney -- Kansas State Soil

Photograph of a field of mature wheat on level and nearly level terrain. Grain elevators are in the background.

Photograph of a profile of a typifying pedon of Harney soil series.

Harney Soil Profile

Surface layer: dark grayish brown silt loam
Subsurface layer: dark grayish brown silty clay loam
Subsoil - upper: grayish brown silty clay loam
Subsoil - middle: light brownish gray, calcarous silty clay loam
Subsoil - lower: light gray, calcarous silt loam
 The Harney series was adopted as the Official State Soil of Kansas on April 12, 1990, when Governor Mike Hyden signed Senate Bill 96. The name “Harney” (meaning people) is derived from “harahey,” an ancient Wichita Indian term for “Pawnee Indian,” stemming from when Coronado journeyed across Kansas.

Harney soils have the ideal qualities of prairie soils. They are recognized as prime farmland and have excellent properties for producing food and fiber crops. These soils occur on about 4 million acres in west-central Kansas. Kansas is one of the top producers of wheat, grain sorghum, and silage in the nation because of Harney and other productive soils.

Small scale map of Kansas showing distribution Harney soil series.
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