Grain Freight Cost Calculator

Trucking cost per mile — how it’s calculated

Grain trucking is priced per loaded mile or per ton-mile. The calculator multiplies a benchmark rate of roughly $0.11–$0.20 per ton-mile by your tonnage and the road distance (great-circle distance inflated by a 1.30 road factor to approximate real highway miles). For a 25-ton truck that is about $3–$5 per loaded mile. Short hauls to the local elevator are cheapest; long door-to-door truck moves get expensive fast, which is why rail and barge take over beyond a few hundred miles.

Grain hauling rates: per mile, per ton, per bushel

The calculator reports every rate farmers and merchandisers compare: total cost, cost per mile, cost per ton, cost per ton-mile and cost per bushel. Per-bushel is the number that matters against your basis — it converts tonnage to bushels using the commodity test weight, so you can decide whether moving grain to a distant market beats selling locally.

• Truck: ~$0.11–$0.20 / ton-mile
• Rail: ~$0.035–$0.060 / ton-mile (covered hopper, ~100 t each)
• Barge: ~$0.012–$0.025 / ton-mile (river corridors, ~1,500 t each)

Bushels to tons & bushel weights

One metric ton equals 2,204.62 pounds, so the bushels in a ton depend on the crop’s test weight: corn 56 lb/bu (≈ 39.4 bu/t), wheat & soybeans 60 lb/bu (≈ 36.7 bu/t), sorghum 56 lb, barley 48 lb, oats 32 lb. The calculator does this conversion automatically so cost-per-bushel is always correct for the commodity you pick.

Rail & barge freight

Rail line-haul is estimated at $0.035–$0.060 per ton-mile over a corridor distance (1.20× straight-line) and only when the haul exceeds ~150 miles. Barge is the cheapest mode per ton-mile but only on river corridors (Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio) and long distances. A covered hopper railcar carries ~100 t; a grain barge ~1,500 t — the calculator shows how many cars or barges your shipment fills.