Disclosed herein is a control system for controlling the position of the harvesting implement of an agricultural vehicle. The system includes transducers for monitoring the position of the implement relative to the vehicle, the location of the implement relative to the surface supporting the vehicle, and the force required to support the implement. The system also includes an implement positioning mechanism, a user interface for selecting position, location and force setpoints, and a controller coupled to the transducers, positioning mechanism and user-interface. Based upon the signals produced by the transducers and the setpoints set at the user-interface, the controller controls the positioning mechanism to position the implement.