Agriculture, Soil, Fertilizer & Farm Operations worked example
Grain Drying Shrink at 3.6% acceptable shrink threshold: a worked example
This worked example runs the grain drying shrink numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: 3.6% acceptable shrink threshold instead of the typical 5%. Estimate grain drying shrink percent from shrink bushels, wet bushels, and an action threshold.
The inputs for this scenario
- Shrink or handling loss (bushels): 750 bu (held at the documented default)
- Wet bushels before drying: 15,000 bu (held at the documented default)
- Acceptable shrink threshold: 3.6 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 5)
Working through the calculation
- The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Grain shrink percent = shrink bushels / wet bushels x 100.
- Grain shrink percent works out to 5 % at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
- Shrink above threshold works out to -1.4 points at these inputs.
- Shrink bushels works out to 750 count at these inputs.
- Wet bushels works out to 15,000 count at these inputs.
How this compares with the baseline
- Against the tool's baseline example, where acceptable shrink threshold sits at 5% and the headline result is 5 %, this scenario lands almost exactly on the baseline at 5 %.
- Use it when reconciling wet-weight tickets against dry storage counts, comparing dryer settings, or auditing a season's bin-to-bin loss. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.
Results at a glance
- Grain shrink percent: 5 % (headline result)
- Shrink above threshold: -1.4 points
- Shrink bushels: 750 count
- Wet bushels: 15,000 count
Run it with your numbers
- To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Grain Drying Shrink calculator, set acceptable shrink threshold to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.