JS Crop’s Dual LEXION 8900s Deliver Exceptional Output in Kent

Based close to the East Kent coast, the team at JS Crop are heavily dependent on a pair of LEXION 8900 to clear over 2800ha each harvest. While CLAAS combines have long been the machines of choice, harvesting capacity has had to increase to deal with the business’ growing acreage.

“Although we had an exceptional summer this year, we were increasingly finding that weather patterns were pushing our combines to the limit,” explains Matt Solley.

Moving from a brace of 770s to a pair of 780s six years ago gave us a massive boost in capacity as did the switch to 13.8m headers. But changing to the first 8900s was a real eye-opener – it suddenly put us well on top of the job.

But what has surprised us most are the improvements to the pair of 8900s we took delivery of this season. They are now such refined beasts, both in terms of output and the quality of the job being done, it’s hard to see how they could be further improved.”

11/03/2025

JS Crop Ltd, near Dover, Kent
Farmed area: 2024ha (5000acres) plus 810ha (2000acres) contract combining
Cropping Winter wheat 1416ha (3500acres), spring wheat 354ha (875acres), spring oats 354ha (875acres), oilseed rape 354ha (875acres), winter beans 354ha (875acres)
Staff: Matt Solley plus four other full-timers and another three at harvest

Why two LEXION 8900s?

“With almost 3000ha of crop to cut we need the highest output machines possible and in my book, nothing beats a CLAAS LEXION for the quality of the job it does as well as its sheer capacity.

Moving to a 13.8m header on our 2019 780 we were blown away when we hit 40ha a day. Our first 8900s knocked that into touch by comfortably clearing 50ha each and this latest generation has taken it a step further with another 10% increase in output – primarily due to the latest version of CEMOS.

In a catchy season harvest can be pretty relentless for our guys – they can be stuck in the seat for almost six weeks straight. Staff are the most important asset we have – without them our business just wouldn’t work. They have to be happy and comfortable in their working environment and these latest generation cabs certainly tick that box.”

CLAAS LEXION 8900 | JS Crop

Why CLAAS?

“We have a fantastic relationship both with CLAAS UK and our local MANNS depot – you’re dealing with real people who understand the job you’re trying to do. That makes a huge difference.

The dealership is brilliant. Should we have an issue – which is extremely rare – we can call them up no matter what time of day or night and we know they’ll have it sorted ASAP. They really look after us very well.

Critically CLAAS has developed its combines at a similar pace to the growth of our business so that we’ve pretty much always managed to clear our growing acreage with just two flagship LEXION.

With a pair of 8900s running flat-out we can now reliably manage 110-120ha per day. I’m not convinced we’d do that with any other colour machine without detriment to the quality of the job we do.

CLAAS seems to have got that balance of quality and out-and-out capacity just right. A lot of that is down to the way the technology has moved on – the latest CEMOS auto settings system is a real revelation.”

How do you use CEMOS?

“We’re now onto our third machine with CEMOS and to see how it has developed over time is really impressive,” says operator Spencer Bean.

Initially I was nervous to put all my faith in it. I always used to be looking in the tank, changing things to try to get the cleanest possible sample. Now there’s no need, I just trust it to get on with the job by itself.

Before we had any such automatic features, I would alter settings maybe two or three times a day as conditions changed. With CEMOS constantly tweaking everything it’s doing a far better job than I could – there is no way you could physically match it, playing with the controls all day long to get the best sample possible and maximum output.

It surprises you by coming up with things you wouldn’t necessarily think of straight away to keep the combine running at its best. The camera monitoring what’s coming up the clean grain elevator does such a good job. You just tell CEMOS that you’re happy with the sample and it will stick with that. It’s brilliant.

This latest version is so much easier to use, and you can see clearly on the screen all the changes it’s making. Now it’s able to open and shut the rotor flaps by itself it’s got pretty much every function on the machine under its control so it can alter what lands on the sieves, what’s going out over the back and ultimately what ends up in the tank.

Because it’s doing all that I can concentrate on keeping everything else ticking along nicely rather than worrying about settings all of the time. It takes the pressure off me and makes my life so much easier, safe in the knowledge that CEMOS is constantly working to maximise hourly throughputs while minimising losses and maintaining an unbeatable sample.”

How do you use CLAAS CONNECT?

“The combination of CLAAS’ latest GPS system and the CLAAS CONNECT package is absolutely brilliant. It’s so easy to use – the minute a field is finished a yield map is generated which I can send straight to the customer so they can immediately see how their crops have performed,” explains Mr Solley.

It integrates seamlessly with third party farm management software so there’s no extra work to be done converting files and trying to make sense of the numbers.

We have fantastic back-up from CLAAS – a product specialist came out and talked me through how to get the best from the new system and if there are any glitches I know there’s someone on the end of the phone that knows what they’re talking about.

From a logistics point of view, it’s a massive step forward. It takes some careful planning when you’re doing the monstrous tonnages these latest LEXION are capable of – from the farm office or on my phone I can see how things are progressing, when the combines will need moving and make a plan for our storage capacity.

Particularly when the weather is against us our logistics have to be spot-on, whether it’s trailers, fuel or what’s happening at the grain store – the overview that CLAAS CONNECT provides has made the decision-making process that much slicker.”