What Makes a Bushel?

I am sure that you have heard us or other farmers talk about bushels. A bushel is a measure of weight used for commodity crops such as corn and soybeans. Specifically, bushels per acre is the measure of yield that we use to gauge our productivity. Acres are pretty easy to understand as a measure of area, but what makes up a bushel? As we try to get a handle on this year's crop and estimate yield, this becomes a very important topic.

A bushel is an imperial unit that originated as a measure of volume. You may remember bushel baskets which were used to gather and measure crops. If you are good at physics, then you may have already realized that different things have different densities. Therefore, a bushel basket full of corn will not weigh the same as a bushel basket full of soybeans. Additionally, a bushel basket full of wet corn will not weigh the same as a bushel basket of dry corn.

Today's bushels are nominal in regards to volume, but defined uniquely for each commodity. A bushel of corn is defined as 56 pounds at 15.5% moisture by weight. A bushel of soybeans is defined as 60 pounds at 13% moisture by weight. So, these standards are what the elevator drys and stores our crops to so that they can be fairly bought and sold. Now we have a standard measure, but how do we actually get more or less bushels?

Continue reading with Estimating Corn Yields or Estimating Soybean Yields.