In a major development in high-capacity harvesting, New Holland Agriculture is previewing the new CR11 at Agritechnica 2023, incorporating new cutting-edge technologies that will help drive down the total cost of harvesting for large grain farmers, and increase their bottom-line profitability.

The new combine was designed – and will be produced – at New Holland's center of Harvesting Excellence in Zedelgem, Belgium. Thanks to the most advanced automation features it will offer new levels of productivity, drive grain loss down close to zero, with best grain quality and perfect residue management.

The new CR11 builds upon the success of the current New Holland flagship combine range, which is 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.

While we approach 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 revolutionized the way farmers harvested and that is now part of New Holland's DNA. It's still thanks to the Twin Rotor technology that the new CR can offer the highest productivity at lowest grain crackage on the market.

New Holland has designed the new CR in anticipation of the way in which harvesting demands will continue to evolve, and in response to feedback from customers seeking greater capacity, lower loss and maximum protection of grain quality. 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 775hp C16 engine, 2x24inch rotors, a graintank of 20.000 liters and a 210l/second unload rate, the CR11 significantly increases productivity to levels that have not been achieved before.

New Holland engineers worked on the goal of creating a zero-loss harvesting machine, developing double cleaning shoe. In fact 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 the best 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.

A new automated deslug procedure was designed to reduce downtime. While the new CR11 combine is ready to be pushed for maximum throughput, New Holland recognizes that it is impossible to completely eliminate any risk of plugging. In the unlikely event of a combine pluggage, the 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

Some features of the new combine will be evident from the machine on display at Agritechnica. 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 machine at Agritechnica will be fitted with tyres from Michelin - Michelin Cerexbib 2 - size 900/65R46 with a diameter of 2.32m is a co-development between New Holland and Michelin. It's the first time that this next level of tire size is introduced on a combine of any type. The longer tyre footprint and increased traction provide a reduced ground compaction with no precedents in harvesting.

A close collaboration between Industrial Design and Engineering teams, together with product specialists and Brand marketing has produced a design that is focused on customer needs, with form that really does follow function. The result is an iconic, refreshed design that is stylish yet timeless. 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.

Lars Sorensen, Head of Combines and Headers at New Holland Agriculture said: “Farm consolidation, increased yields and short harvesting windows are driving the need to continue the evolution of combine capacity, with less grain loss and at the best grain quality. This new combine is a market game-changer designed to offer the next level of productivity, with no comparison to anything available on the market today. This was recognized by the DLG when they assigned to our new CR the most important award for  innovations in our industry, the Agritechnica Innovation Gold Medal. In the established range of CR models we already had a design proven in these respects, topped by a model in the CR10.90 that offered the ultimate proof of its claim to provide the highest productivity in the world. We have made further strides in technology and automation, and the strong feedback from the first farmer tests mean we are very excited for the launch of these new machines.”

Carlo Lambro, Brand President of New Holland Agriculture said: “This preview of our new CR11 underlines New Holland's readiness for the future and its ability to adapt to meet the changing needs of our customers worldwide. Beneath the radical new styling design from our internal CNH Industrial team, led by David Wilkie, is a very special combine design across individual areas that, together, create a package that will not replace the current CR range, but add a whole new productivity layer on top of the current offering. Our whole team has done a fantastic job of taking our world recordholding combine and coming up with something even better, and we are delighted to unveil it to the world. Further details will be revealed ahead of the CR11 full launch.

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