New Holland celebrates 50 years of twin-rotor technology in combine harvesters

In 2025, New Holland celebrates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of combine harvesters equipped with twin rotor threshing and separation technology. Since the launch of the first model in 1975, the range has evolved into a complete range of machines.

New Holland entered the harvester market in 1964, when the manufacturer, then headquartered in the United States, acquired the Belgian company Claeys, a pioneer in the introduction of the first self-propelled harvester in 1952.

In the years following the acquisition, New Holland dedicated itself to improving the conventional line of combine harvesters, but, in the 1960s, it began to explore new ways of threshing and separating grains.

Innovation began with studies of centrifugal force, a distinct idea from traditional drum/concave and straw truck methods. The first prototype twin-rotor combine was tested in 1968. This prototype led to the introduction of the TR70 in 1975, the first New Holland combine produced in the United States.

In the following years, the range was expanded with the TR75 and TR85, until, in 1997, New Holland reached the production of its 25.000th unit. According to New Holland, the world record for wheat harvesting, achieved by the CR10.90 in 2014, still stands at 797.656 tonnes in eight hours.

The current CR line, which includes the new CR11 and CR10, continues to incorporate dual rotor technology.