Harvest Moisture Shrink Calculator
Calculate dry matter, equivalent weight at target moisture and moisture-only shrink from harvested weight.
Estimate harvest moisture shrink
Calculate dry matter, equivalent weight at target moisture and moisture-only shrink from harvested weight.
How the harvest moisture shrink calculator works
The tool assumes dry matter stays constant during drying. It first calculates dry matter from harvested weight and initial moisture, then divides that dry matter by the dry-matter fraction at target moisture. The difference between harvested and target-moisture weight is moisture shrink.
When to use this farm calculation
Use the calculation when normalizing grain, forage or other crop weight to a common moisture basis for storage planning, yield comparison or pricing discussions.
Inputs, units and assumptions
Real shrink can exceed moisture-only shrink because of handling, respiration, foreign-material removal and storage losses. Commercial elevators may also use prescribed shrink schedules rather than the pure dry-matter relationship shown here.
Practical example
If 10,000 kg is harvested at 20% moisture, it contains 8,000 kg dry matter. At 14% moisture, the same dry matter corresponds to about 9,302 kg, so moisture-only shrink is about 698 kg.
Why moisture shrink matters after harvest
Harvest moisture shrink estimates how much saleable weight remains after grain or another commodity is dried from the measured harvest moisture to a target moisture. The result is a physical moisture-loss estimate, not automatically the same as an elevator or processor shrink schedule. Commercial buyers can add handling shrink, use different moisture bases or round deductions differently. Use the calculator for planning and comparison, then apply the buyer's published shrink table when estimating an actual settlement or contract payment.