I’m always impressed by the sheer size, power, and capabilities of modern farm equipment. This fairly new trio, caught on camera at a show on May 30, is all set for this year’s harvest season. There was plenty of space on the temporary event location -usually called pasture land- for a thorough walk around, free of any kind of photobombers. Perfect!
The inspection starts with this mighty couple, consisting of a 2025 New Holland T7.340 HD farm tractor and a 2024 VGM Everest 30 end dump trailer, both fitted with a tire inflation system. The letters VGM stand for Van Ginkel Machines, a Dutch manufacturing company.
T7-series of the New Holland farm tractors, maximum power output 340 DIN-hp, and HD for Heavy-Duty. That’s what the model designation on either side of the hood tells us.
According to New Holland’s corporate website, the T7-series Heavy-Duty tractors are assembled in Sankt Valentin, Austria (the ones for mainland Europe, I assume).
The tractor is powered by an FPT Industrial N67 agricultural engine from the NEF-series, an inline-six turbodiesel with a displacement of 6.7 liter. The continuously variable transmission is called Auto Command.
The on-road top speed in this segment of tractors is around 50 km/h (31 mph). Overall, in and around built-up areas (think earthmoving) and on back roads, their pace is on a par with a heavy truck.
The New Holland tows a brute of a trailer, an intriguing piece of equipment by itself. The VGM Everest 30, rated at a gross weight of 34 tonnes (74,950 lbs), has a steering first axle and a counter-steering third axle (so the first axle steers in the same direction as the tractor, whereas the third axle steers in the opposite direction).
The end dump trailer with VGM’s hydraulic side wall system can be used for transporting all kinds of agricultural products, like potatoes, onions, sugar beets, and also silage. When hauling grain, the dump body’s front grille can be covered with a plastic plate easily and quickly.
The trailer rolls on six Vredestein Flotation Optimall VF 750/60 R30.5 tires (VF as in Very High Flexion).
Here’s how the New Holland and VGM make a connection.
A maximum level of toughness and terrain adaptation with the VGM DynAx triangle setup…
…and its hydraulic suspension.
Close-ups of the counter-steering rearmost trailer axle.
Now to the most crucial machine in the whole process, a 2023 New Holland CX8.70 combine harvester, made in Belgium. More precisely, in the Zedelgem harvesting equipment plant. Historical ground, because that’s where the Claeys company of yesteryear built Europe’s first self-propelled harvester, originally introduced in 1952.
A road-legal beast, with a license plate on the back, just like the tractor and the end dump trailer.
New Holland’s CX8.70 combine is powered by a 374 DIN-hp, 8.7 liter FPT Cursor 9 engine. For your information, FPT Industrial builds an incredible range of power units for all kinds of on- and off-road vehicles and also marine engines. The best-known brands that utilize FPT turbodiesels are New Holland, Case IH, Steyr, Iveco, and -well of course- Fiat.
When the combine has to hit the road, its complete header is decoupled and travels along on a dedicated trailer, for obvious reasons.
Fleet owner Van der Woerd is an agricultural contractor, may they have a very successful busy season!
Related article (another full-size Van der Woerd agri-machine):
CC Global: 2013 Vervaet Beet Eater 625 – Sugar Daddy
Excess of 2 million dollars in machinery to harvest $11 (and falling) soybeans.
I may hope the machinery lasts longer than one harvest season. Apart from that, growing soybeans is a completely insignificant line of agri-business here.
Impressive machinery. I was out at a local grass seed farm yesterday to check out a Model AA truck an elderly family friend has stored there and wants me to get running and sell. There was a newish giant JD tractor parked there, and it was absolutely enormous seen close-up. 4×4 (obviously) with duals all-round. And I had just gotten his Farmall Cub running and had driven it a bit, so the relative scale was off the wall.
I realize farm equipment is a major business expense, and quality, reliability, functionality service and ultimately return on investment are the key drivers in a purchase decision. But does the New Holland name have any cachet in Old Holland? I’ve always wondered if the geographic name of a vehicle was ever a factor in the sales of Chevy Tahoes around Lake Tahoe, or Toyota Tacomas in the Washington city of that name. Or a deciding factor between buying a Morris Oxford or an Austin Cambridge. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our local fire department in Santa Cruz has at least one Hyundai Santa Cruz in its fleet. Even though we don’t have a Hyundai dealership in town, I suspect the price was right, and not just the name.
Fendt, New Holland, and John Deere are the best selling tractor brands in the Netherlands, which has been the case (…) for years.
On a European scale, Claas from Germany dominates the combine harvester market (there is a Claas Dominator, actually). New Holland and John Deere are the runners-up.
Thanks for the additional detail.
Ironically, New Holland (the tractor company) is not named directly after the country, but rather after the Borough of New Holland in Pennsylvania, where the company was founded. And surprisingly, the borough was not settled by people of Dutch origin. It was settled by Germans who fled aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War in the seventeenth century. During their journey to the New World, they evidently were well taken care of by the Dutch, whose territory the refugees were passing through.
The Pennsylvania settlement bore several names, but was often informally referred to as “New Holland” by the original settlers and their descendants in honor of the hospitality received in the Netherlands. The name was made official in about 1800.
Anyway, here’s a vintage New Holland ad to go along with the discussion.
Interesting background information, thanks!
There’s also the Holland Fifth Wheel company, an old American brand (from Michigan I believe) that is now German-owned.
I knew that New Holland was originally an American company but did not know about the origins of the name of the town. I love these little historical tidbits.
New Holland is about as global as a company can be. Now based in Turin but incorporated in The Netherlands, this company has quite the history and has absorbed a lot of other brands along the way. It’s a bit curious and ironic that the New Holland name is the one that survived and beat out what were once much bigger names in the industry: Ford, Case, Fiat, and a significant number of others. When I was a kid, New Holland was a pretty minor player, mainly just in hay machinery.
The three CNH Industrial N.V. tractor brands (New Holland, Case IH, Steyr) side by side at Steyr HQ in St. Valentin:
https://www.agrifoto.nl/reportages/14896/fotos-van-niels-van-der-boom-10-12-9
Variants of the combine and tractor are marketed here in the US. Trailers seem to be tailored to local needs. New Holland has been marketing Claeys combines under NH name here since the mid-70s when the twin rotor axial flow came out.
When Ford was trying to get out of the ag tractor market they first bought New Holland to make it more of a full line. The Ford blue tractors eventually became blue New Hollands. NH was traditionally red and yellow.
Here in the states an agricultural contractor would be known as a custom operator or custom cutter if strictly combines.
An impression of Van der Woerd’s machinery and their jobs can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/loonbedrijf.vanderwoerd/photos?locale=nl_NL
It is interesting seeing current ID work on large Ag machines! In the early to mid 80s I worked as the Senior Designer at J.I.Case in Racine, Wisconsin. One of the things I was primarily responsible for was the EXTERIOR of what became the first Case Magnum tractor. We went from design sketches-still working on paper then-to a hand built running proto in under 6 months. Much credit for that was due to Mr. Fred Hoadley (a retired Ford Exec/clay modeler I had worked with in the RV Industry), he was a gentleman and a superb modeler among his many other abilities. Our Racine facility was not large enough to allow modeling the cab surfaces on the proto chassis; therefore we modeled it on a seperate armature on the floor near the entire front clip which was modeled on the chassis. On the prototype it all mated perfectly, Fred’s work! 🙂 DFO
Splendid, thanks for this Dennis!
On topic, here’s a 1992 Case IH 1455XL, displayed at the same May 2026 show.
very interesting Dennis. The Magnum turned out to be legendary. Glad that you scrapped the generic streamlined IH front and went with the Case look although you retained the enclosed engine.
very cool Dennis
so glad you went with the Case front theme rather than the smooth IH look. The Magnum is a modern day classic in all respects, styling and of course how it performed in the field over time.
I just read something rather remarkable.
Holland, which is only the size of Australia’s two largest farms, was the third largest agricultural exporter by value in the world (and no, that’s not per capita). No wonder there is money in that sector for this sort elaborate Meccano set!
Apparently, flower production is a large part of this.
Putting that factor aside, I look at the various remarkable mechanisms we’ve seen from Mr D here over time and have to believe that such complexity is based on ROI. Not only are farmers the world over notorious for their parsimony but the demands of the work means the stuff MUST be reliable.
Last year, dairy products and eggs were the top sellers (export-wise, worth € 13.3 billion).