The profitability of any farm or of a certain crop depends on the adequate management of the tasks executed. For that, in mechanized farms, the careful controlling of agricultural machine and implements, always, deserved a great attention. In this paper, an automatic system of data acquisition, designed for field information survey, was used. The obtained data are related with time and motion, work capacity and field efficiency. The system was conceived for determining the position of the tractor in the field by means of global positioning system (GPS), the fuel comsuption and forward tractor velocity. This set of data makes the control of the operational parameters possible, generating reports containing the most important management indicators such as operational yield and the work conditions. Machinery productivity measurements were carried out in corn fields of the Automation and Agricultural Engineering Center of IAC/SAA. Conventional plowing, harrowing, seeding and mechanical weed control operations were monitored, aiming to characterize performance characterization of the machinery used.
machinery productivity measurement; operational yield; conventional agricultural operations; work capacity
