Every bushel of soybeans saved by careful operation of your combine is profit. Poor field conditions and a poorly adjusted combine may cost you 6 to 8 bushels of soybeans per acre. Harvesting losses cannot be completely eliminated, but they can be reduced to only 1 to 2 bushels per acre if you take the time to check the performance of your combine. To be an expert combine operator, you need to know where harvesting losses occur, how to measure them, what reasonable levels of losses are, and what machine adjustments and operating practices will reduce losses if yours are too high.
Preharvest losses are pods and beans that are shattered from the plants before harvesting begins.
These losses are not caused by the combine, but they can be reduced by harvesting early. Harvesting losses can be separated into several types of losses according to their location. Beans in pods attached to stalks that are cut off and dropped before entering the combine. Beans in pods attached to lodged stalks that are not cut. Beans in pods attached to uncut stubble.