How is moisture shrink calculated?

By keeping the dry matter constant. The dry part of the grain does not change when water leaves it, so wet bushels × (100 − delivery moisture) ÷ (100 − market moisture) gives the bushels the same grain makes at the market standard. The difference is the water that was sold as corn.

Why does my elevator shrink more than this?

Elevators usually publish a shrink factor per point of moisture that includes handling loss on top of the water, and many charge for drying as well. Put the elevator's handling shrink in its own box and compare the result with their schedule; what is left over is their drying charge.

Is it better to dry on the farm?

The water leaves either way, so the water shrink is the same. What differs is who is paid for removing it and whether a handling shrink is taken. This page gives you the value of the shrink at your price; set it against your own drying cost per bushel to decide.

Does this work for soybeans and wheat?

Yes. Pick the crop and the market moisture changes with it — 13 % for soybeans and 13.5 % for wheat are common settlement standards. If your buyer settles at a different figure, type it in the settlement moisture box.

Corn moisture shrink calculator

2,100 bushels of corn delivered at 22.5 % moisture are paid as 1,926 bushels once shrunk to the 15.5 % market standard: 174 bu, or 8.28 % of the load, is water. At $4.30 a bushel the load pays $8,281.95, and the shrink alone costs $748.05 — before the elevator's drying charge.

Your answer

Bushels you are paid for1,143.2 bu

Dry bushels after the water comes out: 1,143.2 bu
Bushels lost to shrink: 56.8 bu
Water shrink: 4.73 %
Total shrink: 4.73 %

Field job sheet

What this means for the field in front of you:

Settlement moisture used: 15.5 % (US market moisture standard for settlement, 2026)

How the answer is worked out

Shrink is a water balance. The grain’s dry matter goes in wet and comes out dry, and the calculator only asks how many bushels that dry matter makes at the moisture the buyer pays for:

dry bushels = wet bushels × (100 − delivery moisture) ÷ (100 − market moisture)

Delivery moisture is the figure on the scale ticket.
Market moisture is the settlement basis. For corn it is 15.5 %; the page shows which figure it used, with its source, under the result.
Handling shrink is optional and taken after the water: the elevator’s allowance for dust, fines and loss in the dryer.

Why each point costs more than a point

Taking one point of water out of corn removes more than one per cent of the bushels, because the percentage is measured on a smaller load after every point. At a 15.5 % basis a point is worth about 1.18 % of the wet bushels. That is the pure water; the elevator’s published factor is usually higher because it folds handling into the same number.

The decision behind the number

Shrink is not a penalty, it is the price of water that would otherwise be sold as corn. The number that decides what to do is the one on the last line — what the shrink costs at your price — set against three alternatives:

Deliver wet and pay shrink plus the elevator’s drying charge.
Dry on the farm and pay fuel, electricity and your own time, but no handling shrink.
Leave it in the field to dry down, and accept the weather and field loss.

Share the result with the link below it and the case reopens exactly, with your moisture, bushels and price.

A worked example

Every figure below is computed by the calculator above from this case — nothing here is typed in by hand:

Bushels delivered, as they came off the field: 2100
Moisture at delivery: 22.5
Crop: Corn
Price per bushel: 4.30

Bushels you are paid for:1,926 bu

Dry bushels after the water comes out: 1,926 bu
Bushels lost to shrink: 174 bu
Water shrink: 8.28 %
Total shrink: 8.28 %
What the load pays: $8,281.95
What the shrink costs you: $748.05
Settlement moisture used: 15.5 % (US market moisture standard for settlement, 2026)

Worked by Agrimetra with the same engine the calculator above runs.

What this means in the United States

Corn delivered wet is shrunk to the 15.5 % market basis before it is paid for, plus a drying charge, and the two together are often larger than the grower expects. This page prints the dry bushels, the shrink and the dollars at your own price, because the decision is whether to dry on farm or to deliver wet.

Questions growers actually ask

How is moisture shrink calculated?: By keeping the dry matter constant. The dry part of the grain does not change when water leaves it, so wet bushels × (100 − delivery moisture) ÷ (100 − market moisture) gives the bushels the same grain makes at the market standard. The difference is the water that was sold as corn.
Why does my elevator shrink more than this?: Elevators usually publish a shrink factor per point of moisture that includes handling loss on top of the water, and many charge for drying as well. Put the elevator's handling shrink in its own box and compare the result with their schedule; what is left over is their drying charge.
Is it better to dry on the farm?: The water leaves either way, so the water shrink is the same. What differs is who is paid for removing it and whether a handling shrink is taken. This page gives you the value of the shrink at your price; set it against your own drying cost per bushel to decide.
Does this work for soybeans and wheat?: Yes. Pick the crop and the market moisture changes with it — 13 % for soybeans and 13.5 % for wheat are common settlement standards. If your buyer settles at a different figure, type it in the settlement moisture box.

Last updated: September 22, 2026

Sources

Iowa State University Extension — Ag Decision Maker (grain drying and marketing) (checked September 22, 2026)
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service — grain inspection and the official US grain standards (checked September 22, 2026)