New Holland’s new flagship

New Holland Agriculture previews the new CR11 combine harvester. It incorporates new technologies that will help drive down the total cost of harvesting for large grain farmers, and increase their bottom-line profitability. The CR11 won a gold medal at the recently held Agritechnica international trade fair.

Thanks to advanced automation features, the new CR11 will offer new levels of productivity, drive grain loss down close to zero, with best grain quality and optimal residue management. The machine builds upon the success of the current New Holland flagship combine range, topped by the CR10.90, which has held the world record for the most wheat harvested in eight hours – 797.656 tons – for almost a decade, since August 15, 2014.

Approaching the 50th anniversary of the New Holland Twin Rotor technology in 2025, the new CR11 will also highlight the advantage of the Twin rotor concept, that is now part of New Holland’s DNA. It’s still thanks to the Twin Rotor technology that the new CR can offer high productivity at low grain crackage.

Recognizing how higher-yielding crops and unpredictable weather can affect both one season’s crop and the next, New Holland engineers aimed to design a machine that can play its full part in delivering maximum productivity, and clear fields quickly to ensure quality is protected and the following year’s crop establishment can take place in good time and in good conditions.

Four pillars to set a new standard in harvesting

More productivity, close to zero losses, better and more efficient residue management and a significant reduction in downtime are the four pillars the CR11 was projected on, with the overall higher objective to reduce the Total Cost of Harvesting to improve the farmer’s bottom line profitability. Thanks to its 775 hp C16 engine, 2×24 inch rotors, a grain tank of 20.000 liters and a 210 l/second unload rate, the CR11 significantly increases productivity to levels that have not been achieved before.

The new Twin Clean cleaning shoe comes with two cleaning systems behind each other, with 2 upper sieves, 2 lower sieves, 2 clean grain augers and 2 sets of pressure sensors to measure cleaning shoe load. As an industry first, the new Twin Clean is fully automated to guarantee even cross distribution of the cleaning shoe, for maximum capacity at loss levels close to zero.

The completely new Residue management system comes with a new chopper and chaff spreader system, designed to ensure high chop quality and even residue spreading over up to 60ft cutting width. The awarded Intellispread radar system, winner of a 2022 Agritechnica Innovation Silver Medal, automates the spreading control to ensure full and even residue coverage behind the combine, regardless of wind effects, crop type or moisture conditions.

In the unlikely event of a combine pluggage, the new automatic “deslug” procedure will guide the operator through an unplugging procedure in a way that clears the combine in minutes rather than hours, without requiring the operator to exit the cab or perform any physical effort.

Because it significantly reduces downtime caused by such a scenario, the automated reverser helps and encourages the operator to exploit the combine’s full capacity potential without fear of blocking. In addition, this feature increases safety while clearing a blockage, because no person is leaving the cab during the automated unplugging process. Downtime prevention is further aided by the combine’s revised driveline simplicity with as much as 25% less drive components and with the elimination of all chain drives.

CR11 will also mount the new Intelliview 12 display and IntelliSteer guidance system, together with other essential precision farming functions, like Telematics and Remote screen viewing. Furthermore, NutriSense comes with a NIR sensor that monitors crop quality via the use of near infra-red light to analyse nutrients like protein, starch and oil contents, plus moisture levels, and can create maps of these for further agronomic analysis.

Visible changes

The new combine benefits from a completely new design, that combines premium aesthetics with form and functionality. Multiple cab upgrades provide additional benefits in comfort and control. Also visible, the new 15m (50ft) draper header manufactured by MacDon for New Holland, adds to the overall productivity and field efficiency gains.

Recognizing the trends for reduced ground compaction in combination with transport width regulations, the CR11 offers a range of wider tracks and bigger tyres. The first machine will be fitted with Michelin Cerexbib 2 – size 900/65R46 tires with a diameter of 2.32 m, a co-development between New Holland and Michelin. It’s the first time that this tire size is introduced on a combine of any type. The longer tire footprint and increased traction provide a reduced ground compaction with no precedents in harvesting.

The new CR11 has an iconic, refreshed design. The flow of the harvest is underlined on the exterior body panels by the dynamic blue feature that runs across the body through the various functions. It will not replace the current CR range, but add a whole new productivity layer on top of the current offering.

The new combine was designed, and will be produced in Zedelgem, Belgium. Further details will be revealed ahead of the CR11 full launch.