Ever heard the term bushel of wheat? If you have, you might have thought that it was slang, of sorts. A bushel just means a bunch, right? Not quite, though it is! A bushel is an actual, precise unit of measure, specifically weight or volume, one that is very important in the US, especially for wheat agriculture. So, how much is a bushel of wheat?
A bushel of wheat is equivalent to approximately 60 pounds. Used as a unit of volume, it is equivalent to 8 dry gallons.
The bushel is the most commonly used, and useful, measure for all sorts of grains, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with it if you aren’t already. Keep reading and I will tell you what you need to know.
How Much Wheat is Actually in a Bushel?
If you’ve got a bushel of wheat, you’ve got a lot to work with! As stated, a bushel is around 60 pounds (that’s 27.22 kgs) worth, and that number can fluctuate slightly depending on the type. In any case, a bushel holds roughly one million kernels of wheat! That amount can be turned into about 44 pounds of flour, and from that about 93 one pound loaves of whole wheat bread. That’s a lot of baking!
Bushels Are Also Used to Measure Agricultural Output and Capacities
Wheat cropland is often rated by its typical, or averaged, output. For instance, throughout the Midwest US, the normal production of any given acre growing wheat is about 40 bushels. Land that is of exceptional quality or efficiency will produce more, and the reverse is true for lower quality land.
Transporter trucks and trains equipped with grain hoppers will often be discussed in terms of bushel capacity, usually around 1,000 per. That means a typical grain truck hauling wheat is moving around 60,000 pounds of the stuff. Remarkable, isn’t it?
Entire states yield is also stated in terms of bushels; crop-intensive states can produce upwards of 300 million bushels of wheat and other crops yearly.
Bushel Also Refers to a Standardized Container
Have you ever seen those big, wooden baskets at a farmer’s market? The ones with staves that look a little like the bottom third of a barrel cut off? That is also a bushel.
This is a “chicken or the egg” situation: was bushel, the measure, derived from the basket, or vice versa? Either way, these were used for the same purpose: to quickly and easily quantify a given amount of any given produce.
Bushel baskets are used as a rough measure for apples, peppers, corn and all other kinds of produce the same way as for wheat, but the trick is that the weight of all varies considerably! You’ll have only about 44 pounds worth of apples in a bushel, for instance, and if you are buying “by the basket” it also makes a difference if it is filled only to the rim or if it is mounded up. Always double-check to make sure you aren’t getting cheated!
Tim is a farm boy with vast experience on homesteads, and with survival and prepping. He lives a self-reliant lifestyle along with his aging mother in a quiet and very conservative little town in Ohio. He teaches folks about security, prepping and self-sufficiency not just through his witty writing, but also in person.
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