Differential harvesting strategy: technical and economic feasibility

Differential Harvesting (DH) is performed to differentiate the product according to a precise quality standard in order to gain an economic advantage from temporal and spatial field variability. In agriculture this technique has been extensively applied in grape harvesting. There are fewer examples for extensive crops, since DH is mostly used for products with a value at harvest that differs depending on their quality characteristics. DH can be achieved through the use of sensors applied on the combine or through qualitative yield maps. The aim of this paper is to compare the technical and economic feasibility of five DH methods identified in the literature and a new technique proposed by the authors. The analysis was conducted using yield and protein maps obtained in two years of experimentation growing durum wheat. Results highlight how management zone harvesting allows an increase of about 28 % of high-protein wheat, with a subsequent growth in gross revenue.