CLAAS Group

I do think there's gonna probably be some change on some bad stuff going on.

But we are, we are an equipment podcast, and I believe Claas had some news.

They did.

They just opened up their $10 million Omaha research and development center.

Really messing this up today

... yeah.

$100 million facility in Omaha, which is a big deal 'cause Claas is a German company, and to move r- ar- research and development into the United States I think's a big thing.

I love it when you see our manufacturers we represent investing in America.

With a snip of a scissors, the official opening of the Claas Research and Development Center in Omaha.

Hi, I'm Susan Littlefield with the American Ag Network.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place on Thursday, it officially opens this new R&D center, as I had the opportunity to sit down with Jan Hendrik Moore, he's CEO of the Claas Group, to ask him more about what this R&D facility is gonna mean for the future of agriculture.

I think, uh, in general, we are collecting a lot of market knowledge through product management, what means in a dialogue with farmers, and they tell us about their future demands, uh, the crops they grow, the yields they might expect, the harvest conditions they are experiencing.

And then we are answering here through technical innovation, and that mean that we tailor machines, in particular here for, uh, the North American needs of farmers.

How do you see this kind of refining ag technology and, and bringing it together?

I think in general, developing ag machinery is a very long story across decades.

And, uh, Helmut Claas, um, second-generation owner of Claas, would've said it's, uh, innovations for generations.

A global equipment manufacturer says tariff disputes are continuing to drive up farm equipment costs.

Brownfield's Kellan Havakin has more with Eric Rabie, senior vice president for Region Americas with Claas.

Eric, w- w- we're seeing, um, an increase in, in steel costs right now.

And so as we think about, um, what we see with the cost of machinery, maybe set the stage for us and talk about where are you seeing, um, when we think of components to machinery that Claas uses, where do we see some of these price trends going, um, right now?

Well, unfortunately, uh, Kellan, we're seeing those, um, at, at the worst stabilize, but they're stabilizing at a high level.

But in many cases, they're continuing to rise.

Compared to 2025, Kubota US saw scores improve in eight categories, with the largest improvement in warranty procedures.

When Kubota Canada and Kubota US scores are averaged, the combined group has an average mean score of 5.3, good for second place behind Claas.

It has the highest score for parts availability, parts quality, warranty procedures, warranty payment, and marketing and advertising.

A detailed analysis of how the short line manufacturers perfor- performed can be found at farm-equipment.com. On September 16th, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a new target range of 3.75 to 4%.

I think it's all gonna be okay, but, you know, I think there's some, there's some kinks they're still working out on this.

And not to me- like, Claas builds a great corn head.

So, like, corn heads sometimes can be a lot of preference things.

If someone's used to running Kemper on their John Deere stuff and they switch to Claas, it might be more of an easy switch knowing they can kinda keep their same head parts.

But-

Claas, and Claas has come a long ways with their...

I, I would say the Claas head today is just as good as Kemper, if not better, and they've come a long way.

So, there was times where the, where the rotary heads went through some periods where they could've worked better, and-

... start some of their things on Wednesday.

Man, I'll tell you that, uh, out at Big Iron, walking around that, like, that Claas combine-

Mm-hmm

... and the other ones that were out, I see why they're a million dollars.

Yep.

I mean, they had the Claas one that had the sides all opened up on it.

It was like, "Oh my goodness." I had no idea what was going on underneath the combine-

Sure