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Modeling the internal process of a combine harvester is a difficult task. A huge amount of parameters influences the process and highly non-linear and stochastic terms are present. Therefore, it is useful to install a monitoring system to measure those process parameters that are directly related with the performance and behavior of the combine.

A New Holland CX820 conventional combine harvester, with a commercial CX precision farming unit, is equipped with extra sensors to measure actual cutting width and feedrate. During the summer of 2001, measurements are carried out on a field with varying crop conditions and a feasibility study is carried out about the possibilities to track the separation behavior of the conventional combine

In this paper, a recursive algorithm is constructed based on the quasi-Newton optimization method. The resulting procedure makes it possible to track the processability of the harvester online. Latter information can directly be used to design automatic tuning systems and as extra evaluation parameter for new crop varieties and field treatments.