Patent ID: 7478518

Claim:
A method of determining crop yield for a particular location using an agricultural baler equipped with a GPS unit, wherein a flake of crop material is accumulated to a predetermined density in a fixed volume pre-compression chamber of the baler prior to transfer of the crop material into a baling chamber of the baler, the method comprising the steps of: sensing flake events, the flake events occuring when flakes of crop material are transferred from the pre-compression chamber to the baling chamber; recording the flake events; recording a GPS location of the baler at the time of each flake event; creating a map of flake events using the recorded GPS locations; estimating crop weight, for each flake of crop material; determining crop yield for a particular area on the map using a number of flake events recorded in the area, wherein the number of flake events times the estimated crop weight for each flake equals the crop yield for the area.