Claas rings up some big numbers
The Claas Group finished fiscal year 2023 with a substantial leap in sales that reflected the high demand for agricultural equipment.
Helmut Claas, long-time managing director and chairman of the CLAAS group, has died at the age of 94.
Claas was born in 1926 in Harsewinkel, Germany, to parents August and Paula who managed a small agricultural machinery firm with a workforce of around 100. After completing an apprenticeship as a machine fitter, then some practical experience in metalworking firms, Claas joined his parents’ family firm in Harsewinkel in 1958.
In 1962, he became managing director and pursued a special focus on developing pioneering products and mass-producing them economically. During Helmut Claas’ era, the successful Dominator combine harvester – followed by the completely new Lexion, which is today said to be the most efficient combine harvester in the world, were developed. Also, the Jaguar forage harvester and the large tractor Xerion were developed under Helmut Claas.
In 2003, he succeeded in taking an important step towards the company’s future by making it a long-line supplier, when CLAAS took over the complete tractor business from Renault Agriculture in France.
Helmut Claas oversaw the company’s greater internationalisation with the establishment and expansion of production sites in Russia, the USA and China.
He was also a farmer, running a farm in East Anglia in Great Britain, where he spent time with his wife Erika and enjoyed keeping in touch with farmers in the neighbourhood and indulging in his passion for hunting.
Moving forwards, the Claas Group will be steered by his daughter, Cathrina Claas-Muhlhauser.
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.
Listed Canterbury milk processor Synlait’s shares have been placed in a trading halt.
OPINION: Even before the National-led coalition came into power, India was very much at the fore of its trade agenda.
A step-by-step guide helping farmers through the process of creating a Freshwater Farm Plan (FWFP) has been launched by FarmIQ.
OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…
OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…