An electronic control system for controlling and displaying the status of the location of a combine harvesting head is disclosed herein. The system includes transducers for monitoring the position of the harvesting head relative to the combine, the location of the head relative to the surface upon which the combine is operating, and the force at which the surface is supporting the head. The system also includes a control unit coupled to the transducers and an electronic display located with the operator cab of combine. Depending upon the configuration of the control unit, the control unit samples the transducer signals to apply display signals to the display. In response to the display signals, the display can produce human-readable characters representative of the status of the head as monitored by the transducers.