Bob Nielsen

Understand this one simple fact about grain yield monitors: They do not measure grain yield.

How’s that for an opening statement?

What I want you to understand is that yield monitors ESTIMATE yield by converting electrical signals received from a mass impact or optical sensor, located somewhere in the clean grain elevator of the combine, into ESTIMATES of grain flow (lbs) per second or two of travel time. Along with ESTIMATES of distance traveled (usually based on differentially corrected GPS signals), header width, and ESTIMATES of grain moisture content… the yield monitor’s firmware / software then ESTIMATES “dry” grain yield per acre, at a moisture content of your choice, and records those yield estimates, and their geographic location in the field, every second or two in the display’s memory or uploaded by cellular connection to a Cloud-based Web server. For the rest of the article, visit Pest and Crop Newletter.

Source: Pest & Crop Newsletter