A sugarcane harvester includes an extractor assembly that more efficiently and effectively separates leaves, stems, and other waste material from sugarcane billets and ejects the waste material back onto sugarcane fields without blowing the waste material into a wagon or other billet collection vehicle.

The present invention relates to a cutting unit (2) for attachment to a harvester. In order to reduce the size of the clearances at the outer ends of the conveying elements in which, depending on the pivoting position of the frame elements relative to each other, the conveying elements are ineffective, the sidewalls (14) are designed to be movable transversely to the working direction (A) of the cutting unit (2) and relative to the frame (22) or the respective associated frame elements (24a, 24c).

A header for an agricultural harvester includes: a header frame; a plurality of cutters carried by the header frame and configured to sever crop material; a draper belt carried by the header frame rearwardly of the cutters and configured to travel in a travel direction; at least one crop ramp associated with at least one of the cutters, the at least one crop ramp including a front edge disposed in front of the draper belt and a rear edge that overlaps the draper belt; and a seed saver that is associated with the draper belt and defines a length extending in the travel direction. The seed saver extends above the draper belt and is disposed rearwardly of the rear edge of the at least one crop ramp.

A header for an agricultural harvester including an endless belt conveyor and a flex arm disposed between upper and lower runs of the endless belt conveyor. The flex arm includes an elongate beam having an upper surface, and a roller extending above the upper surface of the elongate beam for contacting the upper run of the endless belt conveyor. The roller raises the belt conveyor above the upper surface of the elongate beam, thereby minimizing contact between the upper run of the endless belt conveyor and friction reducing bearings situated atop channel supports connected at opposite sides of the elongate beam. The resultant construction minimizes wear, heat and drag on the endless belt conveyor and the friction reducing bearings.

A crop harvester system includes an image sensor is positioned to capture a stereo image of crop material disposed in a region forward of a harvester implement. A radar system is positioned to receive a returned electromagnetic signal reflected from crop material in the region. A controller determines a volume of the crop material in the region from the stereo image, and determines a moisture content and a density of the crop material in the region from the returned electromagnetic signal. Based on the volume of the crop material, the moisture content of the crop material, and the density of the crop material in the region, the controller may then control one of a traction unit and the harvester implement while the harvester implement is cutting the crop material in the region to avoid plugging an auger of the harvester implement with the cut crop material.