Grain Conversion Calculator
Convert a grain load between bushels, pounds, kilograms and tonnes for any crop, and see how much moisture shrink takes off the bushels you actually get paid for.
🌱 What is Grain Conversion?
Grain conversion is the arithmetic that turns a number on a truck scale into the units a contract, an elevator ticket or an export document actually uses. The bushel sits at the centre of it, and the crucial point is that a modern bushel is a weight, not a volume. Corn is 56 pounds to the bushel, soybeans and wheat are 60, barley 48 and oats only 32. Those figures are legal standards set in statute, so a gross weight only becomes a bushel count once you divide by the right one, and the same 50,000 pound load converts to 892.9 bushels of corn but only 833.3 bushels of wheat.
The second half of the job is moisture. Grain is sold on a dry matter basis at a defined market moisture, so a load delivered wetter than that standard contains water the buyer will not pay for. Shrink converts the wet weight to its equivalent at the market moisture using the ratio of dry matter on each side. Most elevators then add a separate handling shrink, typically 0.5 to 1.5 percent, to cover dust, fines and losses through the dryer. Between the two, a wet corn load can lose 6 to 10 percent of its scale weight before it reaches the settlement sheet.
Two distinctions cause most of the confusion. Test weight is not bushel weight: test weight is the measured density of your particular grain in pounds per bushel and drives grade discounts, while bushel weight is the fixed divisor used to compute paid bushels. And a short ton is not a metric tonne: 2,000 pounds against 2,204.62 pounds, a 10.2 percent gap that quietly ruins any export calculation where the two get mixed up. A third trap is delivering drier than the standard, which sounds prudent but hands the buyer free dry matter, roughly 2.3 percent of a corn load taken from 15 percent down to 13.
This calculator handles both directions. Weight mode takes a gross scale weight in pounds, kilograms, tonnes or short tons and reports gross bushels, net bushels after water and handling shrink, the total shrink percentage and the metric tonne equivalent. Bushel mode runs the other way, converting a bushel figure into every common weight unit and showing what the same bushel count would weigh in each of the eleven listed crops. A moisture ladder table shows what each extra point of moisture costs, and the chart traces net bushels across the whole moisture range with your load marked on it.
📐 Formula
📖 How to Use This Calculator
Steps
💡 Example Calculations
Example 1 — Wet Corn Semi Load
50,000 lb of corn at 20.5% moisture into a 15% market, 0.5% handling shrink
Example 2 — Soybean Bin Inventory in Weight Units
1,200 bushels of soybeans at the 60 lb standard
Example 3 — Export Wheat Contract in Tonnes
25 metric tonnes of wheat already at the 13.5% market moisture, no handling shrink
Example 4 — Corn Delivered Too Dry
40,000 lb of corn at 13% moisture into a 15% market, no handling shrink
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
🔗 Related Calculators
How many pounds are in a bushel of corn?
A bushel of shelled corn is 56 pounds at the standard 15 percent moisture. Soybeans and wheat are 60 pounds, grain sorghum is 56, barley is 48, oats are 32, canola is 50 and rough rice is 45. These are legal weights, not measured volumes.
How do I convert bushels to metric tonnes?
Multiply bushels by the crop bushel weight in pounds, then divide by 2,204.62. For corn that is bushels x 56 / 2,204.62, so one tonne is 39.37 bushels. For soybeans and wheat at 60 pounds it is 36.74 bushels per tonne.
What is grain moisture shrink?
Shrink is the weight a load loses when it is dried from its delivered moisture down to the market standard. The water part follows net = gross x (100 - delivered) / (100 - market), and most elevators add a separate handling shrink of 0.5 to 1.5 percent on top.
How is corn shrink calculated from 20 percent to 15 percent?
Water shrink = (100 - 20) / (100 - 15) = 0.9412, a loss of 5.88 percent. A 50,000 pound load becomes 47,059 pounds, and a 0.5 percent handling shrink takes it to 46,824 pounds, or 836.1 bushels instead of the 892.9 that crossed the scale.
What is the difference between test weight and bushel weight?
Bushel weight is the fixed legal standard used to convert pounds to paid bushels, 56 pounds for corn. Test weight is the measured density of your specific grain in pounds per bushel, used for grading. Low test weight triggers a discount but does not change the conversion divisor.
What happens if I deliver grain drier than the market standard?
You lose. Water shrink runs in reverse and the elevator gains dry matter it does not pay for. Corn delivered at 13 percent against a 15 percent standard hands over about 2.3 percent of the load for free, so drying past the market moisture is usually a direct loss.
How many bushels are in a metric tonne?
It depends on the crop bushel weight. One tonne is 39.37 bushels of corn or sorghum, 36.74 bushels of soybeans or wheat, 45.93 bushels of barley, 68.89 bushels of oats, 44.09 bushels of canola and 48.99 bushels of rough rice.
Is a short ton the same as a metric tonne?
No. A short ton is 2,000 pounds and is standard in United States domestic trade. A metric tonne is 1,000 kilograms, or 2,204.62 pounds, about 10.2 percent heavier, and is the unit in every export contract. Confusing the two overstates or understates a load by a tenth.
What moisture is standard for each crop?
Corn trades at 15 percent, soybeans at 13, wheat at 13.5, grain sorghum and oats at 14, barley at 14.5, rough rice at 12, canola at 8.5 and flaxseed at 9. Contracts can differ, so check the ticket rather than assuming the national standard.
Why is my paid bushel count lower than the scale ticket?
Because the ticket is gross wet weight. Once water shrink to market moisture, handling shrink and any foreign material dockage are subtracted, the paid bushels can fall 5 to 10 percent below the raw weight divided by 56 on a wet corn load.
Does this calculator include drying cost?
No, it converts weight and applies shrink only. Drying charges are usually quoted separately per point of moisture removed per bushel, so add them after the net bushels are known. Comparing shrink loss against drying charge is how growers decide whether to dry on farm or deliver wet.
How do I convert kilograms of grain to bushels?
Multiply kilograms by 2.20462 to get pounds, then divide by the crop bushel weight. So 1,000 kilograms of wheat is 2,204.62 pounds, and 2,204.62 divided by 60 gives 36.74 bushels.