An agricultural baler includes a pre-compression chamber having an outlet, and a main bale chamber adapted to receive crop from the pre-compression chamber. A plunger is reciprocally disposed within the main bale chamber, and includes a plurality of plunger slots which are structured and arranged to allow a plurality of needles to intermittently pass therethrough. The baler is characterized by a plunger cleaner which is structured and arranged to provide the dual functionality of: 1) cleaning the plunger slots , and 2) opening and closing the outlet of the pre-compression chamber.
