An agricultural work machine, such as a harvester, is disclosed. The agricultural work machine includes an internal combustion engine, at least one working assembly, and a regulating device. The internal combustion engine provides power to the working assembly, with the internal combustion engine being operated in different power settings, with a different performance characteristic in each of the different power settings. The regulating device causes automatic shifting of the internal combustion engine from one power setting to another in response to determining that the power requirements assigned to the working assembly change. The power settings may be assigned to different, pre-selectable power setting ranges, which may differ in terms of the highest respective power setting assigned thereto. Further, the regulating device may only cause shifting of the internal combustion engine between power settings in the respective pre-selected power setting range.

A map is obtained by an agricultural system. The map includes values of one or more characteristics at different geographic locations in a worksite. In-situ sensor data indicative of values of one or more crop constituents at cut heights is obtained as the mobile machine operates at the worksite. A predictive model generator generates a predictive model that models a relationship between values of the one or more crop constituents at cut heights and the values of the one or more characteristics in the map. A predictive map generator generates a predictive map that predicts values of the one or more crop constituents at two or more cut heights at different geographic locations in the worksite based on the predictive model. The predictive map can be output and used in automated machine control.

A mobile agricultural machine includes a header configured to engage crop at a worksite and a controllable header actuator configured to drive movement of the header relative to a surface of the worksite. The mobile agricultural machine further includes a crop constituent sensor system configured to sense the crop and generate a crop constituent sensor signal indicative of a value of a constituent of the crop. The mobile agricultural machine further includes a control system configured to generate a control signal to control the mobile agricultural machine based on the detected value of the constituent of the crop.

A crop constituent value is sensed by a crop constituent sensor on an agricultural machine. The crop constituent value is distributed among subregions covered by the agricultural machine. A vegetative index-estimated crop constituent value is obtained for each of the subregions. A weighted crop constituent value is generated for each subregion based upon the distributed constituent value for each subregion and the vegetative index-estimated constituent value for that subregion. An action signal is generated based upon the weighted crop constituent value for the subregion.

A method for determining the sharpness of cutting edges (16) of chopper blades (1) at a rotationally driven chopper drum (14) of a forage harvester includes scanning a blade surface of at least one of the chopper blades located behind the cutting edge by at least one electrode operating as a contact sensor and determining a duration of contact of the at least one electrode with the blade surface.

Crop is routed past a sample window on an agricultural combine harvester. Light it is impinged on the crop from an illumination source and reflected radiation is directed to a sensor. The output of the sensor is indicative of various constituents in the harvested crop. The illumination source is controlled based on the temperature proximate the crop sample.

A method and an apparatus for determining a throughput of a harvesting machine. More specifically, a harvesting machine having a throughput sensor and electronic control device, the throughput sensor calibrated on part of a field with a crop stand of constant density to consider the influence of the rate of advancement and the rate of conveyance of the crop on the signal of the throughput sensor.

An agricultural harvester has a controller operationally connected to at least the drive mechanism of header and the drive mechanism of the feedrolls to control these drive mechanisms. The controller successively executes a primary and a secondary synchronization procedure, wherein the primary synchronization procedure controls the header and feedroll drive mechanisms such that the header rotating speed and feedroll rotating speed are in a first predetermined ratio range; and the secondary synchronization procedure controls the header and feedroll drive mechanisms such that the header load and the feedroll load approach a second predetermined ratio.

A mower-conditioner for cutting and conditioning crop material, comprises a mower unit for cutting crop material and a conditioner unit that is configured to condition the cut crop material. A drive input is configured to receive a rotational drive from an external drive unit, and a drive transmission system is configured to transmit rotary drive from the drive input to the mower unit and the conditioner unit. The drive transmission system includes a continuously variable transmission (CVT) that transmits rotary drive between the mower unit and the conditioner unit with a variable speed ratio.

Creating NIR sensor calibration models and their use in agricultural work machines is disclosed. A database structure, such as a database structure system, for creating calibration models for an NIR sensor system is used. The database structure includes raw data of the NIR spectra of one or both of plant material and other substances. The raw data are generated by one or more NIR sensor systems assigned to an agricultural work machine. The one or more NIR sensor systems transmit the raw data via an interface for the data traffic with at least one data processing unit external to the agricultural work machine. The database structure comprises one or more calibration models and the raw data, generates user-specific calibration models by using the saved raw data and/or calibration models, and provide user-specific calibration models to a user.