An agricultural work machine, in particular a harvester, has a header for performing agricultural work and having a control device which has at least one sensor unit for detecting a crop stream in and/or around the header and an image processing unit for processing images which are generated by the sensor unit based on the crop stream detected via sensor. The control device is configured to detect regions of like characteristics, components of the header and properties of the crop stream and is configured to use that which has been detected for open loop control and/or closed loop control of process sequences in the agricultural work machine.