Method for establishing universal standards for yield measurement
First Claim
1. A method for establishing a crop yield index representing a measure of a crop grower'"'"'s efficiency in growing crops, said method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a land unit defined by a latitiude and longitude;
providing a soil map of said selected land unit, wherein said soil map is a graphic depiction of soil types within said selected land unit;
converting said soil map to a soils reference map wherein each soil type within said selected land unit is represented by a different color and wherein each type is characterized by a productivity index;
determining location of a harvesting machine within said selected land unit, amount of grain harvested in bushels, grain moisture content, soil area covered in acres and crop type;
calculating crop yield by dividing the number of bushels of grain harvested by the number of acres covered by said harvesting machine;
determining a current productivity factor by comparing the calculated crop yield with said productivity index; and
calculating the crop yield index in real time by dividing said crop yield by said current productivity factor.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for establishing universal standards as a measure of a crop grower'"'"'s skill and management uses crop yield and soil productivity values to determine real-time yield indices which are provided such as on a video display during crop harvesting. This allows a harvesting equipment operator to visually inspect the field at the time these measurements are made to observe specific conditions, i.e., weeds, insects, disease, drainage, fertility, etc., at any location in the field to identify opportunities to improve management and cultural practices for any given tract of land. By alerting the operator to the relationships between the various aforementioned conditions, as well as to changes in these relationships, to plant productivity, important information is made available, and may be stored for subsequent review and analysis, for improving crop yields.
-
Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A method for establishing a crop yield index representing a measure of a crop grower'"'"'s efficiency in growing crops, said method comprising the steps of:
-
selecting a land unit defined by a latitiude and longitude;
providing a soil map of said selected land unit, wherein said soil map is a graphic depiction of soil types within said selected land unit;
converting said soil map to a soils reference map wherein each soil type within said selected land unit is represented by a different color and wherein each type is characterized by a productivity index;
determining location of a harvesting machine within said selected land unit, amount of grain harvested in bushels, grain moisture content, soil area covered in acres and crop type;
calculating crop yield by dividing the number of bushels of grain harvested by the number of acres covered by said harvesting machine;
determining a current productivity factor by comparing the calculated crop yield with said productivity index; and
calculating the crop yield index in real time by dividing said crop yield by said current productivity factor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
Specification