Grain sold at a market moisture weighs less than wet grain — water is removed and shrink is applied. Dry-weight bushels from wet weight is essential for honest yield and settlement.
The example
10,000 lb at 20%, sold at 15%.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Item | Value |
| 2 | 80% / 85% DM | — |
| 3 | Dry weight | → 9,412 lb |
The formula
The formula:
How it works
How it works:
- Dry matter = 100 − moisture % — the part that doesn’t evaporate.
- Weight at target moisture =
wet_weight × (100−wet_moist) ÷ (100−target_moist). - Shrink = wet weight − dry weight — the pounds (and bushels) lost to water plus handling.
- Convert pounds to bushels with the crop’s test weight (56 lb/bu corn).
Shrink is mostly water, plus a handling factor. The dry-matter ratio captures the water removed; many elevators add a small extra shrink percentage for handling loss on top. Selling wet and paying drying, versus drying on-farm, is a real economic choice — model the dried bushels and the drying cost side by side before hauling to town.
Try it: interactive demo
Wet weight, wet %, target %.
Variations
Shrink pounds
Wet − dry:
Shrink percent
Loss share:
Dry bushels
Pounds ÷ test weight:
Pitfalls & errors
Dry matter, not moisture. Rescale by (100−moisture), the part that stays.
Handling shrink. Elevators may add a small extra % beyond water loss.
Test weight. Use the crop’s lb/bu (corn 56, soybeans 60) for bushels.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate grain shrink in Excel?
What is shrink?
How do I convert to bushels?
Stop fighting formulas. Learn them in a day.
This recipe is one of hundreds of real-world formulas we teach. Our Excel Formulas & Functions class covers lookups, logic, text, and dynamic arrays hands-on — live in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Oklahoma City, Denver, or online.
See the Formulas & Functions Class