A force measuring procedure and a force measuring apparatus are used to control the power hoist of an agricultural tractor. The force measuring procedure operates in such a manner that the relative displacement of a point on an elastic system is detected by at least one Hall sensor disposed on either the elastic system or on the fixed frame with the Hall sensor being located in a magnetic field with a predeterminable magnetic flux. For this the force measuring apparatus has a flex rod attached to at least one of a pair of lower hitches which indicates the bending moment, and the Hall sensor is mounted with its detector surface essentially in the primary plane of bending deformation of the flex rod and is connected to the control circuit of the power hoist. The described force measuring procedure and the force measuring apparatus operating with this procedure produce the particular advantage that the mounting of the parts needed for the apparatus becomes extremely simple, with a resulting high degree of measuring precision and operating reliability assured for the apparatus. The force measuring procedure and the force measuring apparatus can thus be used to particular advantage whenever the objective is to continuously monitor the construction elements of a mass produced mechanical system.