Crop yield calculator and yield calculation formula
Before harvest — or right after a sample harvest — you often want a figure for the whole field: quintals per acre, kilograms per hectare or bushels per acre. This crop yield calculator offers three standard methods. The crop-cutting method scales the produce of a measured plot up to a hectare and corrects it to a standard moisture. The yield components method multiplies ears or panicles per square metre by grains per ear and grain weight. And the corn method counts ears and kernels to estimate bushels per acre.
Add your field area to see total production, and a price per quintal — such as the minimum support price — to see its value. Everything is calculated in your browser.
How to use the crop yield calculator
- Choose a method: Crop-cutting sample, Ears × grains × weight or Corn (bu/acre).
- For a crop cut, enter the plot length and width and the weight of grain (or produce) harvested from it, then the moisture now and the standard moisture, or a driage ratio.
- For yield components, count ears, panicles or pods in a square metre, count grains in a sample of them, and enter the 1,000-grain weight.
- For corn, count the harvestable ears in 1/1,000 acre of row and the kernel rows and kernels per row of a few ears.
- Enter your field area and, optionally, a price per quintal to see production and value.
Crop Yield Estimator features
Crop-cutting method
Any plot size, with moisture correction to a standard moisture or a driage ratio.
Yield components
Ears or panicles per m² × grains per ear × 1,000-grain weight, with an optional harvest loss.
Corn bushels per acre
The Purdue yield-component method with 65, 75, 85 and 95 kernel weight factors.
All the units
kg/ha, quintals per hectare and per acre, tonnes per hectare and bushels.
Production and value
Total for your field in acres, hectares, bigha or other units, and its value at your price.
Crop yield calculation formulas
- Crop cutting: yield (kg/ha) = produce from the plot (kg) × 10,000 ÷ plot area (m²). A 5 m × 5 m plot is 25 m², so multiply by 400.
- Moisture correction: weight at standard moisture = weight × (100 − moisture now) ÷ (100 − standard moisture).
- Yield components: yield (kg/ha) = ears per m² × grains per ear × 1,000-grain weight (g) ÷ 100.
- Corn: bushels per acre = ears in 1/1,000 acre × kernels per ear ÷ kernel weight factor (about 75).
- Conversions: 1 quintal = 100 kg; 1 hectare = 2.471 acres; kg/acre = kg/ha × 0.4047; 1 bushel of shelled corn = 56 lb (25.4 kg).
Worked examples
Paddy crop cut. 12.5 kg of grain from a 5 × 5 m plot at 18% moisture, corrected to 14%: 12.5 × 82 ÷ 86 = 11.92 kg, × 400 = 4,767 kg/ha = 47.7 quintals per hectare, or 19.3 quintals per acre.
Wheat from components. 400 ears per m², 40 grains per ear and 40 g per 1,000 grains: 400 × 40 × 40 ÷ 100 = 6,400 kg/ha. Allow 5% for harvest losses and the estimate is 6,080 kg/ha.
Corn. In 30-inch rows, 17.4 ft of row is 1/1,000 acre. 30 ears with an average of 511 kernels give 30 × 511 ÷ 75 = 204 bu/acre; with factors 65 and 85 the range is 236 to 180 bu/acre.
How official crop cutting works in India
Crop yields in India are estimated by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics through crop-cutting experiments under the General Crop Estimation Surveys: a plot of specified size and shape is marked at random in a selected field, harvested, threshed and weighed, and a sample is dried to find the driage — the ratio of dry to fresh weight. The same experiments decide yield-based claims under crop insurance; see the crop insurance calculator.
For your own estimate, take at least three to five sample plots or counts across the field and average them; one plot from a good patch can overstate the yield badly. Price your crop with the MSP chart.
Crop Yield Estimator FAQ
What is the formula for crop yield?
Yield per hectare = produce harvested from a sample plot (kg) × 10,000 ÷ plot area (m²). From yield components: ears per m² × grains per ear × 1,000-grain weight (g) ÷ 100 gives kg per hectare.
How do I calculate yield per acre?
Multiply kg per hectare by 0.4047. For quintals per acre, divide that by 100. 4,767 kg/ha is about 1,929 kg or 19.3 quintals per acre.
How do I calculate crop production?
Production = yield per unit area × area. 19.3 quintals per acre on 3 acres is about 58 quintals.
Why correct for moisture?
Freshly harvested grain holds more water than stored grain. Correcting to a standard moisture — for example 14% — lets you compare yields and know what you will actually sell.
How accurate is the corn yield estimate?
Purdue’s agronomist describes it as probably accurate only within plus or minus 20 bushels per acre, for general planning, because kernel weight is not known until harvest. Sample several places and use a higher factor after a dry or hot grain fill.
What plot size should I use for a crop cut?
Official plot sizes differ by crop and state. For your own estimate, use a square plot such as 5 × 5 m (25 m²), or several 1 m² quadrats, spread across the field and averaged.