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Cathrina Claas Muhlhauser and Helmut Claas.
CLAAS was always a family company and a recent change at the top sees that continue.
Patriarch Helmut Claas is handing over the reins to his daughter Cathrina Claas Muhlhauser, who takes up the position of chairwoman of the shareholders committee.
At 44 years-old, she becomes the third generation of the family to hold the role.
Ninety-four-year old Helmut, son of company founder August Claas, has held the role for 25 years and will now become honorary chairman.
During his time as chairmen, Claas has seen a rapid expansion – particularly in its presence beyond Europe – with production and sales now located in places like India, the USA, Russia, China and South America. Along the way, the company also acquired French tractor manufacturer Renault in 2003 to add prime movers to its machinery portfolio.
On the product front, during the same period, the German-headquartered company introduced the industry-leading Lexion combine harvesters in 1995 and the Jaguar self-propelled forage harvester ranges, which also holds a commanding position in the market.
Claas has announced the arrival of its new Jaguar 1000 series forage harvesters, taking power delivery beyond 1100hp, aimed at achieving 20% more throughput, better chop quality, greater efficiency and more operator comfort.
With the biennial Agritechnica Event just a few months away, manufacturers are offering sneak peaks at new innovations, with Claas recently highlighting its new Cerex 700 RC round baler.
Well known for its dominance in the harvesting arena, Claas has channelled its engineering excellence and a deep knowledge of the ag industry with the Fieldays release of the 2025 facelift Claas Arion 600C Evolution and Claas Night Edition Arion 660 tractors.
Silage making is both a science and an art, but Claas says it offers onboard technology featured in its Claas Perfect Partners to help farmers make silage more efficiently and effectively.
Claas has recently celebrated the 250,000th CLAAS mower – a Disco 3200 FC – rolling off the production line in Bad Saulgau, south-west Germany.
Fonterra has unveiled the first refrigerated electric truck to deliver dairy products across Auckland.
Research and healthcare initiatives, leadership and dedication to the sector have been recognised in the 2025 Horticulture Industry Awards.
Virtual fencing and pasture management company Halter says its NZ operations has delivered a profit of $2.8 million after exclusion of notional items.
Manuka honey trader Comvita slumped to a $104 million net loss last financial year, reflecting prolonged market disruption, oversupply and pricing volatility.
The Government has struck a deal with New Zealand's poultry industry, agreeing how they will jointly prepare for and respond to exotic poultry diseases, including any possible outbreak of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI).
The conversion of productive farmland into trees has pretty much annihilated the wool industry.
