CLAAS announced at the AGRITECHNICA farm show in Hanover, Germany, this week that it has achieved a new world record for the most wheat harvested in 8 hours by harvesting more than 24,832 bushels (675.84 t) of wheat in an 8-hour time frame. Helmut Claas and his daughter Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser were presented with the document by Jack Brockbank, official representative of Guinness World Records, at the CLAAS trade fair stand in front of the world record machine. Also present was the 13-man world record team.

The new world record was set by running a LEXION 770 TERRA TRAC combine harvester equipped with a VARIO 1200 40 ft. (12meter) head in fields near Swaby, Lincolnshire, U.K. The record was set during the first 8 hours of a 20-hour harvesting trial.

LEXION 700 series combines are equipped with the APS Hybrid System that combines the Accelerated Pre-Separation (APS) threshing system with the ROTO PLUS separation system. The 20-hour harvest trial began early in the morning despite moisture content at 18%. The wide range of settings found on LEXION harvesters, including independent threshing and separation speed adjustments allow it to adapt to difficult harvesting conditions. Throughput remained consistently high despite moisture content ranging from 14.5–18% throughout the day.

The 8-hour world record harvest saw a nearly 11% improvement over the fuel consumption level set by the previous record holder in their 2008 world record in the same category. Other features that enabled the harvester to sustain throughput performance over a long time period included GPS Pilot for automatic steering, Cruise Pilot for throughput control and CEMOS, a setting assistance system.

“The LEXION 770 not only delivered a 22.5% higher throughput when compared to the previous record holder, it also achieved this with lower engine output and lower fuel consumption," stated Bob Armstrong, North American Product Marketing Manager.

The 20-hour trial was conducted on four fields with the assistance of two harvester drivers. The total area harvested was over 319 acres (129.36 ha) and total yield was over 50,000 bushels (1361.99 t). Total grain losses ranged from 0.31 to 0.5%. All weights were verified by public weighbridge and observed by a Guinness World Records representative.