A combine harvester is described having a stalk discharge system 10 which incorporate a chopper 12, a spreader 14 and flow control guides for defining multiple operator configurable flow paths through the stalk discharge system, The flow paths include a first flow path in which the stalks pass sequentially through the chopper 12 and the spreader 14 to be chopped and evenly distributed over the ground traversed by the header, and a second flow path in which the stalks bypass the chopper 12 and the spreader 14 to be deposited as a swath on the ground. In the invention, the flow control guides are additionally configurable to define a third flow path in which the stalks enter the spreader 14 without first passing through the chopper 12, to be evenly distributed un-chopped over the ground traversed by the header.
