IMPLEMENT MOUNTED SENSORS SENSING SEED AND RESIDUE CHARACTERISTICS AND CONTROL

A mobile agricultural machine includes a row unit having a furrow opener mounted to the row unit and configured to engage a surface of ground over which the mobile agricultural machine travels to open a furrow in the ground. A furrow closer is mounted to the row unit behind the furrow opener relative to a direction of travel of the mobile agricultural machine and is configured to engage the surface of the ground to close the furrow. An image sensor system is mounted to the row unit and configured to sense characteristics of residue and seeds in the furrow opened by the furrow opener and generate a sensor signal indicative of the characteristics. The mobile agricultural machine can further include a control system configured to generate a residue/seed characteristic indicator corresponding to the sensed characteristics and to generate an action signal to control an action of the mobile agricultural machine based on the residue/seed characteristic indicator.