Crop producers are being encouraged to make an important calculation to ensure they are maximizing their returns during harvest.

That from Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) in Humboldt.

Program Manager of Agricultural Development Services, Joel McDonald, says that it is a topic close to PAMI.

"It's something that PAMI has worked at through its entire 40 year history," he noted. "We put together some information to bring up to producers and get them thinking about it."

McDonald says that the biggest mistake made by farmers is not knowing the rate of combine loss, which is the amount of crop that ends up on the ground after a pass.

"There is no magic number that is acceptable or too much," he said. "Get out there and measure and find out how much you are losing. Fine tune the adjustments on your combine, or maybe slow down. Make an educated decision."

He added that checking for loss takes time and effort, and some farmers don't want to occupy more hours of their time undertaking the measure.

Still, though, McDonald says that it is your operation's bottom line that counts.

"Make decisions based on financial impact, because that's really what it comes down to," he explained. "Everything in between isn't so important, as it is the dollars that makes it in the end."

McDonald says that producers can make $20,000 from a good marketing decision, but can also make $20,000 from a good combining decision.

You can hear more from McDonald below.