Method and system for optical yield measurement of a standing crop in a field

A method for estimating yield of a standing crop in a field, the method comprising:

• obtaining, by an imaging device, image data associated with one or more target plants in one or more rows of the standing crop in the field;
• estimating a spatial region of plant pixels of one or more target plants in the obtained image data for a harvestable plant component and its associated component pixels of the harvestable plant component;
• identifying the component pixels of a harvestable plant component within the obtained image data of plant pixels of the one or more target plants;
• determining an edge, boundary or outline of the component pixels;
• detecting a size of the harvestable plant component based on the determined edge, boundary or outline of the identified component pixels, where the harvestable plant component comprises plant-membrane-covered portions and exposed portions of seeds;
• identifying any exposed portions of the harvestable plant component for any adjustment to the size or a yield of the harvestable plant component;
• providing, via a user interface, a yield indicator based on the detected size of the harvestable plant component for the one or more target plants and based on an adjustment associated with the exposed portions, of the one or more plants or standing crop in the field;
• if no exposed kernels are present on a target ear associated with the one or more target plants or if a total exposed kernel area is less than a target threshold for a target ear associated with one or more target plants based on the component pixels being associated with a reference husk color, apply a dehusking process, by a plant membrane remover, to the target ear to remove at least a portion of the husk of the target ear.