# Ever wondered what a bushel is?



## wayneL (27 February 2008)

<pedant>Grains are priced in cents per bushel, but does anyone know what a bushel is?

It used to be a volume measurement, i.e. 35.23907017 litres, but is now a unit of mass specific to each product and approximates the weight of the volumetric measure. Details ==>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushel </pedant>


----------



## The Once-ler (27 February 2008)

I simply can't believe the yanks still use bushels. It is a measure of volume, so what good is that?

They crashed a half billion dollar unmaned space craft into mars because some one had programed the distance into the computer in miles instead of kilometers. Hopefully when men land on mars in 50 years they will have converted to metric.


----------



## Aargh! (27 February 2008)

A "faggot" is a unit used to measure the number of wooden sticks.


----------



## Boggo (27 February 2008)

The Once-ler said:


> I simply can't believe the yanks




A more accurate summary perhaps


----------



## wayneL (27 February 2008)

The Once-ler said:


> I simply can't believe the yanks still use bushels. It is a measure of volume, so what good is that?
> 
> They crashed a half billion dollar unmaned space craft into mars because some one had programed the distance into the computer in miles instead of kilometers. Hopefully when men land on mars in 50 years they will have converted to metric.



Grain can vary in its moisture content. It's the same reason bulk timber is sold on a volume basis as well (board feet in the US, m3 in Oz)(BTW a board foot is 12" x 12" x 1")


----------



## nioka (27 February 2008)

A bushel may be a volume measurement but in the case of wheat a bushel is 60 pounds. Oats weighs 40 pounds and corn 50 lbs. Wheat is actually sold by weight and has been that way as long as I can remember and that is longer than twice the average age of ASFers.


----------



## wayneL (27 February 2008)

nioka said:


> A bushel may be a volume measurement but in the case of wheat a bushel is 60 pounds. Oats weighs 40 pounds and corn 50 lbs. Wheat is actually sold by weight and has been that way as long as I can remember and that is longer than twice the average age of ASFers.




I'm just old enough to have lumped 3 bushel bags of oats around, and thank Christ it wasn't wheat.

Nioka, That's actually what the link explains in the OP. Wheat is sold by the tonne in Aus, still bushels in the US.

But as already explained, bushels are now a a measurement of mass (weight) as per the wiki link.

Cheers


----------



## nioka (27 February 2008)

wayneL said:


> I'm just old enough to have lumped 3 bushel bags of oats around, and thank Christ it wasn't wheat.
> Cheers



I know what you mean. I did my share with oats, corn and wheat. That is why I know the difference. Thank god someone invented the wheel, that helped.


----------



## David123 (27 February 2008)

I always got told a bushel is 1/3 of a bag.A sample of of wheat is today is measured in grams/hectolitre not pounds/bushel! my poppy always used to say old measurement. wheat of good quality has to be atleast 75g/hectolitre.


cheers


----------



## 77mark (31 May 2008)

perhaps they should rename it ...25kg sacks or some thing...surely we use tons


----------

