What Does CWT Per Area Stand for?

Hundredweight

• CWT stands for hundredweight, a unit of measurement dating back to the 16th century. Two types of hundredweight exist, one measuring 112 pounds and another measuring 100 pounds. The 112-pound hundredweight goes by the name British hundredweight, long hundredweight and hundredweight. The abbreviation CWT refers to this measurement. The 100-pound hundredweight commonly goes by the name short hundredweight, abbreviated SH CWT. The first known usage of the term hundredweight occurred in 1577. In the 21st century, the agricultural industry still uses this term to describe crop production.

CWT Per Area in Crop Production

• In crop production, CWT per area stands for the amount of crops produced within a predetermined area. This relatively loose definition applies to myriad types of measurements. It can apply to total amount of all crops grown on a farm or in a town, county or state. It may also refer to the total amount of a single crop grown in a specified region, whether that's a portion of a farm or an entire state or country. CWT per area measurements exist for snap pea growth in Georgia, potato production in Maine, and rice production throughout the entire United States. In essence, it denotes the number of hundredweights of a crop in a single area.

Other Uses of CWT Per Area

• When farmers spread manure, the measurement sometimes takes the form CWT of manure per area. Different crops require different amounts of manure to flourish, so different CWT per area measurements apply. This usage of the term generally only applies in large farm situations, with the area usually being an acre. Such usage also applies to the spreading of introduced soils used to optimize crop production.

  CWT per area may also appear in reference to the airflow required to properly dry rice, which grows submersed in water. The CWT of rice per area directly impacts the amount of airflow required to dry rice grains.

Usage

• CWT per area measurements may provoke confusion, as crop measurements often figure in the millions of CWT. A crop production of 10 million CWT constitutes 10 million 112-pound parcels, or 1.12 billion pounds of crop. Furthermore, the hundredweight unit only measures certain types of crops, fruits and vegetables. CWT measurements apply to potato, onion, carrot, cantaloupe, cucumber, snap bean and watermelon crops, though not to peanut, pistachio and tobacco crops. Crops of small fruits, such as blueberries, generally don't weigh enough to merit the use of the CWT measurement. Though most grain crop measurements appear in bushels, rice measurements appear in CWT.