A self-propelled agricultural harvesting machine such as a forage harvester includes a front harvesting attachment for picking up crop from a field as well as one or more working mechanisms for processing and conveying the crop. At least one functional device assigned to the harvesting machine can be adjusted with respect to one or more parameters for the purpose of adapting to different conditions of use. The machine includes a control device that operates in a field initial-cutting mode in order to specify at least one parameter setting for at least one of the functional devices so that the parameter setting the harvesting machine can be brought into a configuration that is suitable for the initial cutting of the field.
