The starting counts are a worked example. Your own sample and kernels-per-bushel assumption determine the result.
Calculated results
Measure
Result
Ears per acre
32,000 ears / ac
Kernels per ear
560 kernels
Estimated yield, at your kernels per bushelDepends on sampling and kernel weight
199 bu / ac
Corn yield estimate in a visit note
You count ears in a measured part of the field and record the rows and kernels per row. Back at the truck, you enter the sample here with the kernel-weight assumption you want to use. The estimate belongs to those counts and that assumption.
You can say the result and its inputs into your visit note, with the sample location and date. When we prepare the report from your uploaded notes, you can check the number against this calculation and explain why you chose the sample.
The grower receives an estimate with its basis visible. Final kernel weight and the ground your sample represents still matter, so your report can explain those limits in your own words.
Yield estimate: what you said and what the report says
The voice note
“Corn yield sample: 32 ears in a thousandth of an acre, 16 rows, 35 kernels per row. At 90,000 kernels per bushel, the calculator gives about 199.1 bushels per acre. That is this sample’s estimate before harvest.”
Yield estimate - Corn sample
At a glance
1
The sample had 32 ears per 1/1000 acre, averaging 16 kernel rows and 35 kernels per row.
2
At an assumed 90,000 kernels per bushel, the calculated estimate is about 199.1 bushels per acre. Final kernel weight and sample coverage can change its interpretation.
Observations
The sample had 32 ears per 1/1000 acre, averaging 16 kernel rows and 35 kernels per row.
At an assumed 90,000 kernels per bushel, the calculated estimate is about 199.1 bushels per acre. Final kernel weight and sample coverage can change its interpretation.
After your review
Convert ears and kernels to bushels
The Purdue yield-component method starts with harvestable ears in a measured 1/1000 acre. Multiply by average kernel rows and kernels per row, scale to an acre, then divide by assumed kernels per bushel.
The starting divisor is 90,000 kernels per bushel, a historical factor discussed by Purdue. It is an assumption about final kernel weight, which you can change in the calculator.
kernels per ear = average rows × average kernels per row
bushels per acre = ears per acre × kernels per ear ÷ kernels per bushel
The example works out to 199.1 bushels per acre
With 32 ears, 16 kernel rows and 35 kernels per row, the sample contains 17,920 kernels. Scaling to an acre and dividing by 90,000 gives 199.1 bushels per acre before display rounding.
How far to trust it
Heavier or lighter kernels change the bushel estimate even if the ear count stays the same.
This is a sampled estimate before harvest. It cannot establish measured harvest yield or whether your sample represents the field.
