A combine harvester , in particular a self-propelled combine harvester , comprising: - at least one cutting assembly for cutting plants to be harvested with the aid of the harvesting machine , - at least one inclined conveyor for conveying the cut plants in the direction of a threshing means , as well as - at least one threshing means with the aid of which fruits can be removed from the cut plants in a manner such that the fruits are then separated from the plant residues of the plants , wherein the inclined conveyor has at least one revolving drivable conveying device which, together with at least one channel wall of the inclined conveyor , delimits a conveying channel inside which the cut plants can be conveyed with the aid of the conveying device , wherein the inclined conveyor cooperates with a measuring device with the aid of which the height of a layer of plants conveyed inside the conveying channel with the aid of the inclined conveyor can be detected, the measuring device comprising at least one sensor device with the aid of which the layer height can be detected in a contactless manner, characterized in that the sensor device has at least one inductive sensor element , the sensor device comprises a plurality of sensor elements which are distributed over a width of the conveying channel and at least one evaluation unit is provided which is connected to the sensor device , wherein with the aid of the evaluation unit , information from the individual sensor elements can be evaluated in a manner such that at least approximate information is generated regarding a transverse distribution of the cut plants inside the conveying channel over at least a portion of the width , preferably over the entire width of the conveying channel . - at least one cutting assembly for cutting plants to be harvested with the aid of the harvesting machine , - at least one inclined conveyor for conveying the cut plants in the direction of a threshing means , as well as - at least one threshing means with the aid of which fruits can be removed from the cut plants in a manner such that the fruits are then separated from the plant residues of the plants , wherein the inclined conveyor has at least one revolving drivable conveying device which, together with at least one channel wall of the inclined conveyor , delimits a conveying channel inside which the cut plants can be conveyed with the aid of the conveying device , wherein the inclined conveyor cooperates with a measuring device with the aid of which the height of a layer of plants conveyed inside the conveying channel with the aid of the inclined conveyor can be detected, the measuring device comprising at least one sensor device with the aid of which the layer height can be detected in a contactless manner, characterized in that the sensor device has at least one inductive sensor element , the sensor device comprises a plurality of sensor elements which are distributed over a width of the conveying channel and at least one evaluation unit is provided which is connected to the sensor device , wherein with the aid of the evaluation unit , information from the individual sensor elements can be evaluated in a manner such that at least approximate information is generated regarding a transverse distribution of the cut plants inside the conveying channel over at least a portion of the width , preferably over the entire width of the conveying channel . <EOS>