New Holland was birthed out of the entrepreneurial spirit –
the spirit of innovation and leadership that generates new ideas, new products and new business processes. This month, we look back at the decade spanning 1966 to 1975.
PAST
This decade was marked by a number of product introductions that further cemented New Holland’s place as a world leader in agriculture and construction equipment:
1966: Ford produced its first backhoe loader
1971: Sperry New Holland launched its first skid steer loader
1973: The Fiat 640 tractor was introduced in Europe
1975: Sperry New Holland introduced the world’s first rotary combine, the Twin-Rotor® TR 70
1975: Sperry New Holland introduced its first round baler
1975: Braud launched its first self-propelled grape harvester.
During this period, the first round baler made its way onto dairy farms setting the Gold Standard for decades to come and New Holland machines were harvesting crops in 70 countries. The introduction of the Twin Rotor combine once again put New Holland into a category of its own.
PRESENT
New Holland caught the world’s attention with the first Twin-Rotor® combine and today, we’re proud to celebrate its 40th Anniversary. Our legacy of innovation continues with the most powerful combine in the World: the CR 10.90 Elevation. This powerful machine holds the Guinness World Record for harvesting.
New Holland combines can be found everywhere in the world where combines are operating. In fact, 1 out of every 5 combines globally is a New Holland combine. Our heritage is built upon developing combines that perform well in a variety of crop conditions. Conventional combines represent the evolution of traditional threshing machines and utilize a drum and concave with straw walkers that are able to handle a variety of crops and conditions. Globally, this is still the most popular type of combine. However, traditional combines can be aggressive and can be too damaging for food crops like soybeans and peas. For more delicate crops where the need to minimize damage to seed kernels exists, the twin rotor combine is the preferred choice.
New Holland’s Twin Rotor combines employ two small diameter rotors that run along the length of the combine. With this design, the kernel is separated by centrifugal force and does not require aggressive rubbing between the rotor and concave, delivering better grain quantity and reducing grain damage. Increased grain quality is a huge advantage that can only be delivered by the Twin Rotor technology unique to New Holland’s CR Series combines.
In fact, when it comes to combines, we set the standards of modern design:
• We were the first company to introduce a feeder front face plate that could be adjusted so that the angle of the head could be perfectly matched to specific crop or harvesting conditions. We recognize not all crops are harvested in the same manner, so we offer a complete range of heads for all cropping requirements.
• The introduction of the Terrain Tracer™ was another first. This technology allows the combine head to angle left or right, so the head of the combine can follow any undulations in terrain and pivot independent of the combine itself, ensuring all crop is harvested. Today, every combine sold in North America includes this functionality.
• New Holland was the first to pay particular attention to the operator environment and was the first to provide modern, quiet cabs, which are now standard in the industry. Check out our Harvest SuiteTM Ultra Cab, which has taken the best cab on the market to a whole new level.
NEXT GEN
Never resting on our laurels, we continue to improve our machines and the experience for those who operate them. Take Kauns Seed Farm as an example. Kauns grows crops for seed, so harvesting high quality grain is a requirement to guarantee germination. If their seeds are damaged during harvest, nothing will grow. See how the Twin-Rotor® design of New Holland combines provides SMART solutions for Kauns Seed Farm.
New Holland also recognizes that market changes have made it increasingly harder for farmers to find experienced operators and efficiently work the long hours required, so we focus our efforts on automating arduous processes. For example, we’ll continue to research technologies that will provide feedback on grain quality, loss level, and how the combine is operating to enable the combine to self-adjust for maximum performance. In the near future, farmers will be able to program loss and grain quality as settings to ensure the combine automatically delivers against parameters the operator desires.
Today, the tank that holds the harvested grain is unloaded into a cart that travels along side the combine. Because of the speed the combine travels and the amount of grain harvested, this is a challenging process. We’re working to make unloading easier and also to develop controls for the grain cart and combine to unload automatically. Future grain cart logistics will enable farmers to automate getting the right cart to the right combine at the right time. Now that’s New Holland SMART.