How much is a bushel?

Question

What size is a bushel? Say a bushel of grain?

Answer 1

A Bushel of:

Corn = 56 lbs

Wheat = 60 lbs

Soybeans = 60 lbs

Grain Sorghum = 56 lbs

Sunflowers = 29 lbs

Oats = 32 lbs

Barley = 48 lbs

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales...

Higher than average test weights are nice, but they have nothing to do with how much you get paid for your crop, unless they are much lower than the above weights. For example, if your corn crop has a test weight of 60 lbs per bushel, it just means you haul more weight out of the field in less trips. You still get paid on 56 lbs per bushel. That means, if you take an old bushel basket and fill it with corn and it weighs 60 lbs, you will get paid for 1.0714 bushels of corn.

The guys above are incorrect. Elevators DON'T divide the weight by the test weight to get bushels. Low test weight crops are "docked" for light test weight, but, they don't divide the weight by the test weight. If the elevator did this, it is illegal.

Answer 2

To add to what Cowboy said a wheat farmer cuts his wheat and takes it to the elevator to sell.

They take a sample and list the "test weight" of the grain, then divide the weight of the grain by the "test weight" to determine the number of bushels he gets paid for.

So even if we measure the crop yield in "bushels per acre" it's really the pounds that count.

For example one year we had a hot, dry wind hit one wheat field at the worst possible time.  Heads dried out before they could fill and the test weight was 42 lbs/bushel so we were only paid about 2.3ds of what we would have been if the test weight was good.

Answer 3

Most times a bushel is referred in produce like apples and potatoes. Mostly used on farms it is way to measure the amount of what ever have. For example you can buy a half a bushel of apples or a whole bushel. A bushel is about 35 liters or 4 pecks. Just in case you dont know what a peck is its about 2 gallons. Essential a bushel is 8 gallons in the english version and 35 liters in metrics.

Hope that helps!

Emmy-loo

Answer 4

How much is a bushel can be a very confusing issue in US agriculture. A bushel is a measure of volume (like in a bushel of fruit, like apples and oranges). When it comes to marketing a bushel becomes a measure of weight. A bushel of apples is 48 lbs., oranges 50 lbs per bushel. Get into grains, shelled corn is 56 lbs/bu, ear corn-70lbs/bu, oats-32lbs/bu,  soybeans and wheat both are 60lbs/bu. Test weight is actually a measure of the density or weight per unit of volume of a grain at a standardized moisture level. In U.S. grain merchandising channels this is typically expressed in pounds per bushel. So you can see that it can get to be very confusing to answer as well as to understand the answer to your question.

Answer 5

1.2445 Cubic feet make a bushel.  A Bushel is a measure of volume.  Wheat, for instance, can weigh anywhere from a low of about 46 pounds per bushel to a high of about 64 lbs per bushel with an average of 60 pounds.  Standard weight of a bushel of oats is 32 pounds, but almost all modern varieties will exceed this.  Standard weight of a bushel of corn is 56 pounds.

Answer 6

Charts for you.

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales...