Systems and methods for grain loss detection and analysis

A residue detection system for analysis of a chaffer material collected from a flow of a crop material residue along a chaffer of a cleaning shoe of an agricultural machine, the residue detection system comprising:

• a gate selectively displaceable between an open position and a closed position;
• a tailings system including a tailings trough, a first sensor, a tailings elevator, and an optical system, the tailing trough configured to receive a grain tailings, the gate positioned, when the gate is in the open position, to provide a passageway for a delivery of the chaffer material to the tailing trough, the tailings elevator configured to convey at least a portion of the chaffer material to a location at which the portion of the chaffer material is within a field of view of an optical device of the optical system;
• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory coupled with the at least one processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
• generate a signal to activate the optical device to capture a captured information of at least the portion of the chaffer material that is within the field of view of the optical device;
• and
• determine, using at least the captured information, a residue property of at least the portion of the chaffer material.

A method for analyzing a chaffer material collected from a flow of a first crop material residue along a chaffer of a cleaning shoe of an agricultural machine, the method comprising:

• displacing a gate from a closed position to an open position;
• delivering, in response to the gate being displaced to the open position, the chaffer material through the gate and into a material flow pathway;
• capturing, by the optical device as a captured information, the chaffer material that is within the field of view;
• and
• determining, from the captured information, a residue property of the chaffer material.