Row crop harvesting head

A row crop harvesting head mountable to a combine in a manner effective to harvest row crops in a field, the harvesting head comprising a plurality of spaced-apart harvesting snouts, roller mechanisms effective for pulling row crop stalks downward away from the harvesting head and toward the ground in a space between adjacent snouts, and a plurality of stripper plate assemblies effective for stripping the row crop from its stalks as the stalks are pulled downward past the stripper plates;

• wherein each of said stripper plate assemblies comprises a pair of adjacent halves, with each pair of adjacent halves comprising a first half having a first stalk-contacting edge and a first plate surface extending away from said first stalk-contacting edge in a first direction, and a second half having a second stalk-contacting edge and a second plate surface extending away from said second stalk-contacting edge in a second direction opposite said first direction,
• wherein each of said first stalk-contacting halves is positioned on the harvesting head at a first stalk-contacting level, and each of said second stalk-contacting halves is positioned on the harvesting head at a second stalk-contacting level, and each of said first stalk-contacting edge levels is higher from the ground than its corresponding second stalk-contacting edge level, and
• wherein each of said stalk-contacting halves is positioned on the harvesting head at a horizontal position in which the first stalk-contacting edge overlaps or is directly adjacent the second stalk-contacting edge so that there is little or no horizontal gap between the two halves.