Herr Doctor Helmut Claas

 

Helmut Claas, owner of Troston Farms and Chairman of the CLAAS group, died on January 5th 2021 at the age of 94. He is fondly remembered by the village for his generosity and kindness. He was a talented engineer and his agricultural equipment business became an international success with over 11,400 employees. His special skill was to not only design and develop pioneering products but also to then mass-produce them economically. In particular, his combine harvester, the LEXION, is regarded as the most efficient in the world.

When Helmut was born in 1926, his parents, August and Paula Claas, were managing a small agricultural machinery firm with a workforce of around 100. The couple’s son completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter after graduating from school and followed up with hands-on experience in metalworking firms and practical training in casting. He studied agriculture in Paris and the company launched the first European-designed combine harvester in 1935, and during the war quietly continued to develop the machines.

Following the Allied invasion of Germany, the British Army gained special permission for the Claas’s company to be provided with steel so that manufacture could fully restart. The War Ministry encouraged Helmut to establish a farm machinery business with James Mann in the UK. As a young man he spent much of the late 1940s working in the UK and grew to love the country and in particular, Suffolk.

In 1961, Helmut bought a farm at Troston which now extends to some 1,500 hectares. It grows winter wheat, barley and rye - some of which goes to Ryvita. Forage maize goes to an anaerobic digestion plant which supplies energy to the new CLAAS HQ and the farm also grows sugar beet for the British Sugar factory at Bury and sunflowers which produce wild bird seed. Land is rented out for outdoor pig production.

Helmut’s focus remained on developing pioneering products and mass-producing them economically. Following the success of the combine harvester model DOMINATOR, a completely new combine harvester construction - the LEXION - was launched. The company describes it as “the most efficient combine harvester in the world”. The JAGUAR forage harvester and the large tractor XERION were also developed during his tenure. The firm took over the complete tractor business of Renault Agriculture in France as the company continued to become more international.

Among the many honours bestowed on Helmut were an honorary Doctor of Agricultural Science from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, an honorary professorship from the Goryachkin University in Moscow and Knight of the French Legion of Honour in recognition of his efforts as a pioneer of Franco-German cooperation. In 2013, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of American Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

Troston was very much a home from home for Helmut - and has remained so for his family — who regularly visit, and have many friends in the area.