Mississippi cotton yield monitor: beta test for commercialization

Based on a novel cotton-flow sensor, the Mississippi Cotton Yield Monitor has been under development at Mississippi State University since 1999, when one prototype of the yield monitor was field tested in Mississippi. Three prototypes were constructed and field tested in Texas, Georgia, and Mississippi in 2000. Five prototypes of an improved version were fabricated and field tested in 2001. All three years’ testing results were promising. In 2001, Mississippi State University and Agricultural Information Management, LLC, signed a licensing option agreement to prepare for the eventual manufacture and marketing of the Mississippi cotton yield monitor. Research towards commercialization of the Mississippi cotton yield monitor was conducted in 2002. In this beta test, 10 prototypes of the Mississippi cotton yield monitor were built and extensively tested on commercial and research farms during the 2002 cotton harvesting season. Harvesting was conducted with both cotton pickers and strippers. The yield monitor system’s accuracy was evaluated on a load-by-load weight basis. Reliability was tested under commercial harvesting conditions. All systems performed well during the tests. Each one was easy to install, maintain, and operate. No hardware problems occurred. The system’s average absolute error was 3.8%. Cotton yield maps created with the data collected by the monitors realistically exhibited yield variations within the fields. Evaluator’s suggestions, mainly related to software performance, are to be addressed in the commercial version of the Mississippi Cotton Yield Monitor.