This guide provides an overview of some of the key measures used in agriculture along with a series of imperial to metric conversions.

Agricultural areas

In the UK agricultural sector the acre is the traditional unit of area measurement. One acre is 4840 square yards and would cover about half a full size football pitch.

The hectare is the metric unit of area measurement and equals 10,000 square metres. It has been widely adopted by the industry but has not superseded the acre. As a result both are in mainstream use. A hectare is about a third bigger than the New Wembly Stadium pitch

Weights and volumes

In the UK the metric system of weights and volume are used with tonnes, kilograms and litres being the principal units. However in the US soft commodities (eg. wheat and barley) are traded using a unit of volume known as the bushel. The bushel originated in England a thousand years ago but today's bushel is not much different having a similar volume to the average PC case.

Yields

Farmers habitually talk of yields as a measure of both performance and success but they may mean little to the general public. A typical dairy cow will produce around 7000 litres of milk each year which is enough milk to put with your breakfst cereal each morning for the next 100 years!

An arable farmer growing a crop of wheat on the new Wembly Stadium pitch could make enough bread to serve up 1 double sliced sandwich to a full capacity of 90,000 people. If that sounds spectacular remember that the value of the wheat he grew would be less than £1000!

Key Measures

Conversions

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