Founded in 1913 and based in Harsewinkel, North Rhine-Westphalia, Claas is a family-owned company that has grown to become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery. While its roots are firmly in the physical machines of harvesters, balers, and tractors, today Claas is staking its future on data, autonomy, and sustainability.

Wolf-Christian von Wendorff, responsible for Global Digital Solutions at Claas, emphasized a shift in what the company stands for. He said: “Claas stands for integrated precision agriculture. We do not just build machines; we provide the systems and the controls behind them. Digitisation started for us back in 1972, more than 50 years ago; our customers have been pioneers in digitisation for years.” That means Claas is continuing to evolve from a machine maker to a systems partner for the farm.

One of the key pillars of that transformation is the Claas Connect platform. “With Claas Connect we can now connect the entire fleet of agricultural machinery, from combine harvesters and forage harvesters to tractors and implements. It allows farms to work with centimetre accuracy, conserve resources and secure yields.” The goal is to treat each plot, each field, each plant with more precision than ever before. As von Wendorff put it: “In the past, an entire farmed field was treated uniformly; today it is monitored with centimetre precision via satellite.”

What does this look like on the ground? Application maps are built from satellite images, drone data, previous yield maps, soil, and elevation profiles. These maps let farmers decide where fertilizing is needed and where it is not. “Often there is a lack of water, not nitrogen, and that means less fertilizing.” The maps are sent digitally to the machine terminals, and then seeds, water, sprays, or fertilizer are deployed selectively. This is farming informed by data rather than by guesswork.

Claas is also working hard on autonomy. The machines are increasingly self-navigating, recognizing obstacles, making decisions, connecting to remote systems, and looping feedback into the system. “This creates a cycle of deployment, evaluation and improvement that leads to fully autonomous fieldwork.” Their machine optimisation system CEMOS Automatic adapts to precise field conditions while driving.

There is also a strong sustainability story. As von Wendorff puts it: “We only have one world and it has to feed us all.” The technology Claas builds can help increase yields while using less water, less fertilizer, less spray, and less fuel. Their TERRA TRAC system distributes machine weight over a larger area to protect soil. Predictive maintenance and digital diagnosis reduce downtime and waste. In short: more acres per day, less input per acres, better yield per operation.

Ownership of data is another frontier. Claas emphasizes that the data “belongs exclusively to the customer. Access is only granted with consent and for clearly defined purposes.” Their system lets the customer grant, limit, or revoke access and export or delete their own data. That transparency aims to strengthen trust at a time when digital farming can raise questions.

Looking ahead to 2035, Claas sees three major forces shaping agriculture: robotics, autonomy, and AI. “Robotics brings precision to tools, autonomy takes over routine tasks, AI supports management decisions, both at the planning stage and during operation. From the office to the field. Ultimately, what counts is experience in the form of data. The farmers with the most hours out on the field and who can collect as many sets of clean data as possible today will be among the best in 2035.” Claas is also engaging in start-ups and partnerships such as AgXeed and invites innovation through its Seedgreeninnovations program. Although Claas remains deeply committed to producing food with natural resources like soil, water, and sunlight, it recognizes that technology will be the differentiator.

In essence, Claas’s journey is a story of continuity and transformation. The tradition of physically efficient, reliable machines remains intact. What shifts is the context: machines are becoming nodes in smart systems, farms become data ecosystems, and growers become decision scientists as well as operators.

With that being said, there will always be farmers who value the classic, traditional tractors they grew up with. What do you think about this push towards precision?