Harvest planning: two combines, grain carts and a rain forecast
In which order do the combines harvest the fields today, and which cart takes each bunker load?
Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom. The schedule below plays the plan; hover a bar for details. Illustrative day plan from an optimizing heuristic; the Timefold model is built in a project.
The planning question
An arable farm in the Rhine plain: two combines can start at 10:00 when the dew is off, rain is forecast from 16:00, and grain carts shuttle the bunker loads to the farmyard silo. Rained-on crops lose value — wheat more than barley.
How we plan it
The value loss per crop drives the sequence: fields that lose the most when wet come first, as long as the carts keep up.
What the plan shows
| KPI | Optimized plan | Comparison: field-number order |
|---|---|---|
| crop value | 65,300 € +2,300 | 63,000 € |
| harvested before rain | 27 ha +5.4 | 21.6 ha |
| combines on the road | 21 min −2 | 23 min |
| combines waiting for carts | 0 min | 0 min |
Decisions
- field → combine and sequence
- grain cart per bunker load
Constraints
- harvest from 10:00 (dew), rain from 16:00
- combine output, bunker size, road speed
- carts tip at the silo
Objective
most crop value in before the rain, little road time, no waiting combines
Questions
Is this a Timefold model?
The demo plan is computed by an optimizing heuristic in the same format; in projects we build it with Timefold.
Does it work for contractors with many farms?
Yes — that is where planning pays off most: many machines, many fields, travel between farms.
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