of materials including but not limited to metals plastics teflon u00ae nylon and wood specifically an aluminum backing plate 30 is satisfactory force transducer 22 is mounted to the backing plate 30 so that the force 50 applied on the transducer 22 is measured stalk holder 34 is a plate with a v notch in its front and which can also be made from numerous materials as described above is mounted for example with a screw to the center mounting plate of the force transducer 22 the notch portion of the v notch of stalk holder 34 is applied against the longitudinal axis of the corn stalk to allow the force 50 to be applied perpendicular to the stalk in this way the user is assured force 50 is applied at the correct location other suitable notch shapes may be used in the present invention such as a u notch or any variation that enables the stalk to be held in place while the test is run the force transducer 22 can be but does not necessarily have to be a loadstar as c 50 025 load sensor available from loadstar sensors inc fremont calif it is within the skill in the art to determine the suitability of other readily available force transducers as illustrated in fig2 backing plate 30 force transducer 22 and stalk holder 34 are placed at the second or third internodes 14 and 16 respectively as illustrated and then force 50 is applied as a human operator 36.