Bart van Damme, the Global Product Specialist on combines for CNH, discussed combine harvesters at NAMPO Cape.
Bart has been in the industry for 26 years and has travelled to 66 countries harvesting all kinds of crops, from maize to wheat, flower seeds and sugar bean seeds.
“It is amazing how the Axial Flow can handle all kinds of crops,” says Bart. He adds that they have harvested crops in South Africa with 8% moisture and have even been harvesting wheat in Japan at 45% moisture. This machine can handle anything.
“The South African market is very important to us because it is a big market. You have special conditions here. You have more dry conditions and a lot of working hours with your combines. It is nice to see that our Axial Flow combines are doing a great job down here.”
Bart says that South African farmers told him how happy they are with the performance of the machines, especially because they are easy to use, their simplicity, the grain quality and low running costs.
Bart van Damme, the Global Product Specialist on Combines for CNH, brings big news.
Case IH offers a whole range of Axial Flow combines, from the AF4000 to the AF4088 of which Bart was part of the development team years ago. He said that it makes him proud to see that this combine is also popular in the South African market.
Then they have the AF150 and AF250 that are doing really well, not only in South Africa but globally.
“We have also now added the Harvest Command on our flagship machines, and the customers are happy with this, because this gives the operator the possibility of working at maximum capacity all the time without losses.”
“So, die manne met die tapkarre, maak julle maar reg want julle gaan Red Bull moet vat om by die stroper te bly!”
But Bart did not just come to enjoy the African sun and boast about their combines, he also brought good news.
“Die groot bulstroper van Axial Flow kom na Suid-Afrika,” he says.
“It will be a machine up to almost 597 kW or 800 hp, with a grain tank of up to 20 000 litres. We have the biggest rotor in the industry now, and the biggest cleaning area.
