The harvest is the ultimate test of the farming season. It's when profitability is realized, and every degree of precision—from the steering wheel to the moisture content—makes a difference. In high-tech, large-scale agriculture, relying on human steering and periodic moisture checks is simply inefficient.

The FJD AYM Yield Monitoring Solution offers a comprehensive answer. It's a complete system that integrates three critical components—autosteering, optical sensing, and moisture sensing—to transform any combine harvester into a centralized data collection unit. By leveraging the power of the FJD AT2 Auto Steer System and syncing all data to the mobile app and the powerful FJD FieldFusion platform, the AYM solution provides the reliable insights needed for smart decision-making and precise farm management.

To prove the system's robust capabilities, we recently deployed the AYM Yield Monitoring Solution on a CLAAS Tucano 570 Combine Harvester in a large-scale corn field in Xinjiang, China. The successful integration demonstrated how this solution empowers a harvest machine to achieve top performance during the harvest season.

Smart Autosteering: Where Precision Starts

Before farmers can measure yield accurately, they must harvest accurately. That’s where the integration of the FJD AT2 Auto Steer System comes in, forming the core navigational foundation of the AYM solution.

Eliminate Fatigue

Harvesting involves long, repetitive hours in the field, often leading to operator fatigue and steering mistakes. The AT2 system eliminates these risks. It provides fully automatic straight-line driving, automatic U-turn, and speed control, freeing the operator from constant manual adjustments during the longest shifts.

Maximize Coverage

This automated precision directly translates to profitability through the precise harvesting cut. The system delivers an exceptional RTK accuracy of ±2.5cm for navigation. This high accuracy allows the system to automatically plan optimal paths, ensuring that the 6.2-meter cutting platform of the CLAAS Tucano 570 covers every inch of the field without skips (lost yield) or overlaps (wasted fuel and time). When farmers get more work done right for the first time, their harvest efficiency increases.

Optical and Moisture Sensors: Live Monitoring Matters

The FJD AYM solution turns the combine's threshing process into a data logging activity by strategically placing two essential sensors in the grain's path. These sensors instantly check the crop's water content and yield. The data is sent straight to the AT2 screen. This lets farmers see the current field's crop yield and moisture right on the screen—it's simple and easy to understand.

Optical Sensor: Mapping Productivity

The optical sensor acts as the system's "eyes" on the grain flow. Utilizing advanced optical sensing technology, this component is installed above the grain tank, where it can accurately measure the volume and flow rate of the kernels as they move toward the grain tank.

This continuous measurement, paired with the ±2.5cm RTK location data, allows the system to automatically create a live yield map in real time. The operator can instantly see which areas of the field are outperforming others. This data is crucial for post-season analysis, allowing the farmers to accurately compare:

• The performance of different fields or field sections.
• The impact of various fertilization inputs and seed varieties.
• The effectiveness of different farming methods used throughout the year.

The yield map becomes the first and most critical layer of data for future planning and variable rate application strategies.

Moisture Sensor: Quality and Storage Control

The high-precision moisture sensor is arguably the most financially important component. It is strategically installed at the bottom of the grain tank, measuring the moisture content of the corn kernels after they have been harvested into the grain tank.

This sensor continuously monitors crop moisture levels with a wide measurement range of 5% to 30% and an impressive measurement accuracy of ±0.5%. This allows the farmers to view live moisture data instantly on the in-cab terminal. Knowing the precise moisture level in real-time is vital for:

• Optimizing Sale Timing: Selling grain at the optimal moisture level maximizes price and avoids dockage penalties.
• Adjusting Harvest Schedule: Knowing when the grain has reached peak dryness.
• Planning Storage and Drying: Making immediate decisions on whether the grain needs to go straight to storage or if it requires drying first.

Digital Connection with FieldFusion

All the precise data—the yield map, the moisture readings, and the harvest paths—are instantly synced to the operator’s mobile app and, critically, interlinked with the FieldFusion management platform. This digital connection moves data out of the cab and onto the farm manager's desk, ensuring that the insights gained during the harvest are immediately ready for strategic use in future planting, fertilizer application, and irrigation decisions.

Seamless Cooperation with the CLAAS Harvester

• Navigation Control: The GNSS receiver is mounted on the harvester's roof, and the navigation control terminal is installed inside the cab. These components work with the AT2 to execute the precise path.
• Yield Processing: The Yield Monitoring ECU is installed inside the cab, acting as the system's brain, collecting the precise RTK location data.
• Data Acquisition: The optical and moisture sensors are installed in the path of the shelled corn kernels, right before they drop into the large grain tank.

The Tucano 570's specialized corn header strips the ears, and the internal threshing process separates the kernels from the cobs. Only the clean, shelled corn kernels reach the grain tank. This means the FJD sensors are measuring the final, commercially viable output, providing the most accurate moisture and yield metrics possible. 

Furthermore, the system is exceptionally rugged and reliable. It is built with an IP66 rating against dust and water, and tested for an operating temperature range of -20℃ to +50℃. This vast thermal tolerance is crucial for Xinjiang, where the temperature swings dramatically between the hot days and cold nights during the harvest season, ensuring continuous performance regardless of the local climate change.

Success in Xinjiang: A High-Tech Showcase

The deployment in Xinjiang provided the ideal environment to showcase the AYM solution's capabilities. Xinjiang is at the forefront of modern Chinese agriculture, characterized by:

• Large-scale, mechanized farming: With mechanization rates for farming and harvesting reaching over 95%, the regional infrastructure demands high-tech solutions.
• Precision agriculture adoption: The use of BeiDou navigation and IoT for smart farm management is common, making the integration of the AYM system a natural step forward.
• Record-breaking yields: The region consistently sets new national records for corn yield, requiring ultra-precise measurements to maintain and improve these high-performance standards.

The combination of the CLAAS's power, the region's high standards, and the FJD AYM system's precision allowed the farm to not only harvest the corn efficiently but also to generate the detailed data required to plan for even better yields next season.

Looking Ahead

The successful test of the FJD AYM Yield Monitoring Solution in Xinjiang was a powerful demonstration of smart farming in action. By seamlessly connecting the AT2 Auto Steer System with real-time optical and moisture sensors, the solution transformed the CLAAS harvester into a smart machine that handles all its own data collection during harvest. It ensures that farmers' profitability isn't left to chance; it is consistently maximized and secured for the future through crucial data, accelerating the global shift toward truly digital farm management.