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So we know that Bikurim was collected by tying a reed to the first fruit of a particular field when it would be found budding. We also know that Chazal say to give one 60th of one's produce as Bikurim. The question is how to do this properly. It would seem necesary to know how much fruit the field will yield in advance how to then know how many fruits to mark off. Am I missing something?

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Cool question! May we merit to need this knowledge practically soon. –  Isaac Moses Aug 22 '10 at 8:02
Amen Isaac. Do Jews actually keep Bikurim in Eretz Yisroel today? Not the part about bringing it in a basket to the Beis HaMikdash - but do Jews mark off the fruits and set aside 1/60th like is done with Terumah? –  chaimp Aug 22 '10 at 18:46
@chaimp No. Bikkurim only applies when there is a Temple around, unlike Terumah. –  Double AA Sep 12 at 6:28
Similar: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/45374 –  msh210 Sep 14 at 4:51

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

Experienced farmers can estimate in advance the Yield for the Year and there is usually only slight variation so he does know how much fruit the field will yield in advance .

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So, when Chazal said 1/60th, they were saying this only for experienced farmers? Even so, no matter how experienced somebody is at farming there is no way to know how much rain there will be and all sorts of other conditions. In Pirke Avos Chazal say clearly to not estimate with Ma'aser. I know that this is Bikurrim, but it is hard to understand why that concept would not apply here. I thank you for the plausible answer, but I think there must be something more to it. –  chaimp Aug 22 '10 at 18:44
your right,all people refered to as farmers and can tell if it will be a good year this much will come out if not this much there are taught growing up a big problem with city slickers (as I am) lerning Zeraim is they dont know the Facts on the ground. –  SimchasTorah Aug 22 '10 at 20:20
Is the same done for Teruma and Ma'aser? Are the preemptively calculated? –  chaimp Aug 23 '10 at 1:12
@chaimp They are not because they cannot be separated until after the produce is picked, unlike Bikkurim. –  Double AA Sep 12 at 6:29
Thank you for the response 4 years later! :) I totally forgot that I even asked about this and it was nice reading this exchange again. –  chaimp Sep 19 at 2:49

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