This year marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the New Holland TR70 in 1975.

The brand entered the combine market in 1964 when it acquired Belgian company Claeys, which had introduced its first self-propelled combine in 1952. The new owner continued to develop the conventional straw-walker combine line, but during the 1960s began to investigate new ways of threshing and separating grain to boost output, increase cleanliness and reduce losses.

Adapted from a 985 straw-walker model from the Belgian factory, the first development machine was trialled in maize in 1968, and wheat the following year. The new concept split the incoming crop flow from the elevator/feeder house into two streams, feeding it into two counter-rotating longitudinal high-speed rotors working against longitudinal concaves.

By 1969, a totally new combine design with these internal elements was in tests, and in 1975 the first production model, the TR70 (145hp/5,550-litre grain tank) was launched – the first New Holland combine built in the USA.

Replaced by the upgraded TR75 in 1979, and joined by the larger TR85, over the next two decades the range evolved, with the 25,000th TR combine produced in 1997.

European high-capacity combine development had taken a separate path with the development of the Twin-Flow combines introduced in 1983. These used a conventional drum and concave followed by a large beater and rotary separator and then a lateral Twin Flow rotor that split the crop into two streams to separate the final grains.

However, by the late 1990s New Holland engineers in Europe and North America began work on a new twin rotor design for combinable crops in all global markets. Introduced in 2002, the new CR960 (333hp) and CR980 (428hp) blended key features from the TR and TF machines with new developments and styling.

They were initially built in the USA, before production was transferred to the Zedelgem plant in Belgium in 2005.

The CR960 used 432mm diameter twin rotors, with larger 560mm diameter units on the CR980, which had a 12,500-litre grain tank.

The range was gradually expanded, and introduced features including IntelliSense combine automation, Dynamic Flow Control remotely-adjustable rotor vanes, Dynamic Feed Roll technology and Opti-Spread Plus residue management. Development of the Elevation models in 2007 introduced IntelliCruise feed rate control and Opti-Clean cleaning technology.

The next development was the CR7.90, CR8.90, CR9.90 and CR10.90 models, with the latter machine taking the Guinness World Record in 2014 for the most wheat harvested in eight hours, at 797.656 tonnes. The record still stands today.

The New Holland CR combine range is now topped by the CR10 (634hp, 16,000-litre grain tank) and CR11 (775hp, 20,000-litre tank capacity) models.

Over 70,000 TR and CR twin rotor combines have been produced globally to date.

For more up-to-date farming news click here and subscribe now to profi and save 47%.