Moisture content

Moisture content is the share of water in a harvested grain or bean, and it must fall within a set range for the lot to meet delivery grade.

Grain and oilseed buyers do not want to pay for water, so moisture content, the share of a harvested crop’s weight that is water rather than dry matter, is checked before a lot can be accepted at a delivery grade. Freshly harvested grain often carries more moisture than the standard allows and must be dried before it can be sold or stored safely.

Grain left too wet is prone to spoiling in storage, so elevators and buyers enforce moisture limits strictly, discounting or rejecting lots that exceed them. Moisture testing is quick and routine at the point of sale, using a small sample, and it is one of the first checks applied to any load of grain before quality assay or protein testing goes further.