Agricultural Field Calculators
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Grain Drydown Calculator

Calculate moisture shrink, dry sellable weight, artificial drying costs, and net revenue for corn, wheat, soybeans, canola, and dry beans. Supports propane, flat-rate, and per-point drying methods plus trucking cost estimation.

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Grain Drydown Calculator

Calculate shrink, sellable weight, drying costs, and trucking costs.

Moisture & Weight
Artificial Drying Costs (optional)
Trucking Costs (optional)

Fill in the fields and press Calculate to see your results.

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Disclaimer — Drydown costs and shrink calculations are estimates. Actual shrink factors vary by grain variety, dryer type, and operating conditions. Verify drying costs with your elevator or dryer operator before making marketing decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Dry weight = Wet weight × (1 − harvest MC%) ÷ (1 − target MC%). Example: 50,000 bu at 20% to 15.0%: 50,000 × 0.80 ÷ 0.85 = 47,059 dry bu. That is 2,941 bu of shrink, about 5.9%.
15.0%. Corn above 15% receives drying and shrink charges. Most elevators apply 1.3–1.4% weight reduction per point of moisture removed, plus a separate drying charge of $0.03–0.06/bu/point.
Soft white wheat, hard red winter, and spring wheat all standardize at 13.5%. Some Pacific Northwest elevators accept up to 14.0% with no discount. Grain above 14.5% typically requires drying before acceptance.
Commercial drying costs $0.03–0.06 per bushel per point depending on propane prices and dryer type. At $1.00/gallon propane, plan approximately $0.035–0.04/bu/point for continuous-flow dryers.
Corn typically dries 0.5–0.75 percentage points per day under good fall conditions. Drydown slows significantly below 55°F. From black layer formation (~30–35% moisture) to 15% typically takes 25–40 days.
Yes — after calculating, click Export PDF and enter your farm name for the header. The PDF shows all inputs, moisture shrink, drying cost breakdown, trucking cost, and net revenue per bushel and per acre.

Wet weight ÷ dry weight = (100 − harvest moisture) ÷ (100 − target moisture). Example: drying 10,000 bu from 25% to 15% moisture — dry weight = 10,000 × (100−25) ÷ (100−15) = 10,000 × 75 ÷ 85 = 8,824 bu. You lose 1,176 bu (11.8%) to shrink from moisture removal.

Commercial dryers typically charge $0.04–$0.07 per bushel per point (percentage point) of moisture removed. Drying corn from 25% to 15% (10 points) at $0.05/point costs $0.50/bu. On-farm propane drying usually runs $0.025–$0.045/point depending on propane price and dryer efficiency.