Residue quality assessment and performance system for a harvester

A residue vision system includes an image acquisition device configured for mounting to a harvesting machine. The image acquisition device is configured to acquire, during operation of the harvesting machine, information regarding a first pass in a field. The first pass is a harvested area of the field. During the operation, the first pass is laterally offset from a second pass in the field. An electronic control unit is in communication with the image acquisition device and with a residue distribution system. The residue distribution system is configured to be coupled to the harvesting machine to distribute residue onto the second pass and onto the first pass. The electronic control unit is configured to analyze the information acquired by the image acquisition device and to adjust a distribution of residue onto the first pass while the harvesting machine is harvesting the second pass.