Becoming the world market leader in Seedmech

In 1988–89, WINTERSTEIGER made two giant strides in its Seedmech 2 division: With its weighing system and large-plot combine harvester, the company achieved a breakthrough that established it as the world market leader in seed breeding technology—a position it has maintained to this day. 

The weighing system—the “brain” of the plot combine

With the installation of the MCS weighing system starting in 1989, the plot combines suddenly became far superior to competitors’ machines. Until then, seed samples had to be taken to the lab after harvest and weighed by hand. MCS was an American company that developed the first weighing systems for plot combines and installed them in the U.S. In Europe, WINTERSTEIGER was the first company to supply plot combines equipped with the MCS weighing system. As a partner of WINTERSTEIGER, the Reichersberg seed breeding station provided various grain varieties and supported the development process. Competitors were naturally skeptical of the weighing system and doubted its accuracy.

After MCS went bankrupt, HarvestMaster—owned by Ron Campbell—supplied the entire weighing system. Previously, HarvestMaster had only been integrated into the product via a PC and software.

Big, Bigger, Biggest

Another milestone on the path to becoming the world market leader was the development of the “Seedmaster Advance” large-plot combine harvester. In 1987, WINTERSTEIGER addressed the need for higher-performance plot combines by modifying a conventional combine harvester. To achieve this, a production model, the Deutz-Fahr M660, was converted into a plot combine with a cutting width of 2.25 m. Subsequently, WINTERSTEIGER switched to a base machine from Sampo, and today, New Holland combines are being converted: The Split NH dual plot combine is used successfully, particularly in markets with very large test plots, such as the U.S. and Brazil, as well as for harvesting corn.