Grain shrink calculator: what delivering wet grain actually costs
Also called grain shrinkage or moisture shrink. Jump to the shrinkage chart.
Put in how much you are hauling and at what moisture. This works out the weight you get paid on, what the shrink costs at your price, and the drying charge on top. For corn, soybeans, canola, wheat, barley, oats and peas, each with its own base moisture.
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Extra loss some buyers take on top. Often 0.5% in the US.
Only used with a fixed factor.
How moisture shrink is worked out
Grain is paid for on its weight at a base moisture. Anything above that is water, and the buyer takes it off before paying. The water-loss formula is:
shrink % = (moisture at delivery − base moisture) ÷ (100 − base moisture) × 100
So 100 tonnes of spring wheat delivered at 18% against a 14.5% base loses 3.5 ÷ 85.5 = 4.09%. You are paid on 95.9 tonnes. It is not simply 3.5%, because the base itself contains water: each point you dry off removes a little more than one percent of the weight.
Many US elevators skip the formula and use a fixed factor per point — often 1.3% to 1.5% a point for corn. At a 15.5% base the pure water loss is about 1.18% a point, so a 1.4 factor quietly carries roughly 0.2% a point of handling shrink. Worth knowing when you compare buyers.
Shrink is one of the weight lines between the contract and the cheque. The settlement checker shows how much of that gap it explains, and the net price calculator takes drying and dockage off each buyer's bid before you pick one. Both are part of tracking a grain contract from signing to payment.
Grain shrinkage chart
Water shrink from the formula above, at each moisture, for three common bases. Handling shrink, if your buyer charges it, comes on top.
| Corn, 15.5% base (US) | Shrink | Spring wheat, 14.5% (Canada) | Shrink | Canola, 10.0% (Canada) | Shrink |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16.0% | 0.59% | 15.0% | 0.58% | 10.5% | 0.56% |
| 17.0% | 1.78% | 16.0% | 1.75% | 11.0% | 1.11% |
| 18.0% | 2.96% | 17.0% | 2.92% | 11.5% | 1.67% |
| 19.0% | 4.14% | 18.0% | 4.09% | 12.0% | 2.22% |
| 20.0% | 5.33% | 19.0% | 5.26% | 12.5% | 2.78% |
| 22.0% | 7.69% | 20.0% | 6.43% | 13.0% | 3.33% |
| 24.0% | 10.06% | 21.0% | 7.60% | 14.0% | 4.44% |
| 25.0% | 11.24% | 22.0% | 8.77% | 15.0% | 5.56% |
So 1,000 bushels of corn at 20% shrinks by 5.33% to about 947 bushels at 15.5%, before any handling shrink. A buyer using a fixed 1.4% a point would take 6.3%.
Soybean shrinkage chart
Soybeans are dry at 14.0% in Canada, by the Grain Commission's moisture ranges; most US buyers price them at 13.0%. Water shrink at each moisture, from the same formula:
| Soybeans, 13.0% base (US) | Shrink | Soybeans, 14.0% (Canada) | Shrink |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13.5% | 0.57% | 14.5% | 0.58% |
| 14.0% | 1.15% | 15.0% | 1.16% |
| 15.0% | 2.30% | 16.0% | 2.33% |
| 16.0% | 3.45% | 17.0% | 3.49% |
| 17.0% | 4.60% | 18.0% | 4.65% |
| 18.0% | 5.75% | 19.0% | 5.81% |
| 19.0% | 6.90% | 20.0% | 6.98% |
| 20.0% | 8.05% | 21.0% | 8.14% |
So 1,000 bushels of soybeans at 18% shrinks by 4.65% to about 953 bushels at Canada's 14.0%, or by 5.75% to about 943 at a US buyer's 13.0%. Handling shrink, if charged, comes on top.
Typical base moisture by crop
Starting points only. Canadian figures are the top of the "dry" range in the Canadian Grain Commission's tough and damp moisture ranges, checked 25 September 2026. US figures are common market standards, shown only where one is widely used. Where we could not confirm a figure, the table says to ask your buyer.
| Crop | Canada, dry at or below | US market standard |
|---|
Questions
Is it cheaper to dry it myself or let the elevator do it?
The water is lost either way — shrink is physics, not a fee. What differs is the drying charge, any extra handling shrink the buyer adds, and whether they will take tough grain at all in a busy week. Put the elevator's drying charge in above and compare the last box against your own fuel, power and time.
Why does the shrink look bigger than the moisture difference?
Because the base moisture is itself a share of the weight. Taking grain from 18% to 14.5% removes 3.5 points of water from a total that is only 85.5% dry matter, so the weight falls by 4.09%, not 3.5%.
Why do farmers dry canola below the 10% dry limit?
Because it tends to come back up. Farmers who dry canola commonly report it gaining back half a point to a full point after it leaves the dryer, partly as moisture inside the seed moves out to the dried surface and partly because moisture meters read warm grain low. So many dry it to about 8.5% to 9% to be sure it stays at or under the 10.0% dry limit once it settles. The extra drying costs weight: near 10%, each extra point is about 1.1% of the weight (1 divided by 90), roughly 11 bushels per 1,000 bushels of canola. Checking a cooled sample a day or two later tells you where it actually settled.
Does shrink apply to bushels or weight?
Weight. Grain is bought on weight and converted to bushels at the standard bushel weight for the crop, so a 4% shrink is 4% of the tonnes and 4% of the bushels alike.
Shrink is where the contract price leaks
GrainPosition keeps every load ticket against the contract it went on, with moisture and dockage, and shows what you contracted at against what you were actually paid. It tracks bins and your weighted average in tonnes or bushels too.
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Sources and method
Canadian dry limits: the top of the "dry" range for each crop in the Canadian Grain Commission's tough and damp ranges.
US moisture bases: the moisture most US buyers price against, such as 15.5% for corn and 13% for soybeans. Your buyer's own schedule decides; check it.
Moisture shrink: points over the base, divided by (100 minus the base). Handling shrink and the drying charge are what you type in from your buyer's schedule.
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