ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC PATTERNS AND YIELD MONITOR DATA FOR FIELD EFFICIENCY DETERMINATION

Field efficiency is an important criterion for determining the expected field capacity and, indirectly, for making important machinery management decisions. The data gathered with a yield monitor during harvest and a DGPS monitor during planting were used to provide time–motion studies of equipment and operator productivity. This study used spatial data gathered by a farmer to determine field performance of a combine and a planter. Five fields were used to compare results from soybean and corn production. Fields that are relatively flat with straight rows were contrasted with contoured fields with slopes up to 3 to 5%. Field efficiency, travel speeds, and unproductive time lapses were compared. When contour patterns were compared with the straight rows, field efficiency dropped on the contours by 10 and 20% for planting and harvesting, respectively. Average travel speeds were slower for contour patterns than straight rows by more than 1.6 km/h (1 mph). Although the histograms of the time lapses were very similar for contour and straight patterns, almost twice the number of time lapses was found with the contour pattern.