On 14th November we were intrigued to hear Club President Derek Mathie speak about the inner workings of the Combine Harvester! With a business in agricultural supplies, Derek had in earlier years trained as an Engineer on combine harvesters; it had clearly made a lasting impression and he was able to speak knowledgeably about these huge yet essential machines.

The statistics of a modern harvester are impressive – with the reel at the front of the machine up to 30 feet across and with a price tag of perhaps £200,000 some 60 to 70 acres can be fully harvested in a day, yielding perhaps 100 tons of grain per hour. Such modern machines need 200 – 500 horsepower to drive them. A far cry from older times, when a skilled man and scythe could manage maybe 1 acre of barley in a day – and that just to cut the crop!

Derek described Reels, Cutter Bars, Beater Drums, Augers, Straw Walkers, Sieves, Choppers, Grain Tanks and other wonderfully-named items making up the bowels of the harvester – as well as commenting on the extent of electronics now employed. With a great deal of automation to assist the farmer, the driver’s cab is nothing less than an advanced control room, with screens displaying pictures from closed circuit TV cameras focussed on vital parts of the gathering, cutting, handling, threshing and delivery processes.  

We heard that harvesters now come with ‘tank’ tracks for difficult ground to supplement the traditional wheels. There are even machines designed for steeply sloping fields, where the entire body of the machine can tilt in order to keep the internal machinery level and therefore able to work efficiently.

Altogether a fascinating insight to the way that advanced engineering supports the high-tech nature of agriculture today and a glimpse inside a machine that is essential to our wellbeing.