Systems and methods for combine routing

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• storing, in one or more computer-readable storage media, harvest input data relating to the harvesting of crops at a plurality of locations by a plurality of combines, each location including one or more fields containing crops for harvest by at least one of the plurality of combines;
• storing, in the one or more computer readable storage media, at least one harvest characteristic, each at least one harvest characteristic representing an attribute of the crops to be harvested by the plurality of combines;
• and
• executing, by a routing processor, a multi-stage prescriptive routing model engine based on the harvest input data and the at least one harvest characteristic to generate a combine routing program prescribing the movement of each combine of the plurality of combines between the plurality of locations, the multi-stage prescriptive routing model engine including a demand stage and a scheduling stage;
• wherein executing the multi-stage prescriptive routing model engine includes executing the demand stage to generate a combine harvesting demand as a function of the harvest input data and the at least one harvest characteristic and executing the scheduling stage to generate the combine routing program as a function of the combine harvesting demand.

A system comprising:

• a plurality of combines for use in an agricultural operation,
• a routing processor;
• and
• one or more computer-readable storage media storing harvest input data, at least one harvest characteristic and computer-executable instructions, the harvest input data relating to the harvesting of crops within the agricultural operation at a plurality of locations by the plurality of combines, each location including one or more fields containing crops for harvest by at least one of the plurality of combines, each harvest characteristic representing an attribute of the crops to be harvested by the plurality of combines, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the routing processor, configure the routing processor to implement a multi-stage prescriptive routing model engine based on the harvest input data and the at least one harvest characteristic to generate a combine routing program prescribing the movement of each combine of the plurality of combines within the agricultural operation,
• wherein the multi-stage prescriptive routing model engine comprises:
• a demand stage configured to identify combine harvesting demand as a function of the harvest input data and the at least one harvest characteristic;
• and
• a scheduling stage configured to generate the combine routing program as a function of the harvesting demand;
• and
• wherein the harvest input data includes harvest progress data representing at least one attribute of any harvesting completed by the plurality of combines, wherein each combine of the plurality of combines is configured to provide at least a portion of the harvest progress data in real time and wherein the multi-stage prescriptive routing model engine is configured to update the combine routing program in real time in response to at least a portion of the harvest progress data being updated in real time.

A method of moving a plurality of combines between a plurality of locations in a breeding operation, the method comprising:

• predicting an interval for each of a plurality of locations when a crop at each said location will have a moisture content within a predetermined range;
• determining combine harvesting demand based on the predicted intervals for each of the plurality of locations, the combine harvesting demand including a number of combines needed at each location in order to harvest the crops with the moisture content within the predetermined range within the predicted interval;
• generating a combine routing program as a function of the combine harvesting demand, the combine routing program prescribing the movement of each combine of the plurality of combines between the plurality of locations;
• and
• moving one or more of the combines of the plurality of combines according to the combine routing program to one of the locations of the plurality of locations.