With harvest season approaching, we went through our archives of best tips, products, and technologies designed to improve combine and operator performance. Here are 7 of our most-read stories in the category of combine harvesters.

1-Combine tips from the pros. We asked some of the nation’s top custom harvesters to share their best tricks and tips of the trade. Surprisingly, they were willing to share their secrets. Here’s a review.

Read: Combine tips from the pros

2-Best tips for buying a used combine. Jeff Lentz, marketing manager for Claas of North America, says farmers can get some good deals on used combines with the build-up in inventories. Here, Lentz shares inside secrets you can employ when buying your next combine.

Read: Tips for buying a used combine

3-Life after the bi-rotor combine. Cousins Ralph Lagergren and Mark Underwood reached celebrity status when they sold the patent rights to their Bi-Rotor combine to John Deere.  A book, called “Dream Reaper: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Inventor in the High-Tech, High-Stakes World of Modern Agriculture,” was written about their journey, and even today they remain recognizable figures. In an exclusive interview with Farm Industry News, Lagergren shares what he’s working on next, this time a project that could reinvent the sprayer rinse cycle.

Read: Life after the bi-rotor combine

4-New Holland launches new CR Series combines. This month New Holland announced the entry of its biggest CR Series combine to date, powered by a 653-hp engine. The combine also brings with it a brand new cab and the best of New Holland's smart harvesting technologies: Twin Pitch rotors, Dynamic Feed Roll, SmartTrax rubber tracks, Tier 4B EcoBlue Hi-eSCR engine technologies.

Read: New Holland launches new CR Series combines

5-Seven combine threshing systems. Understanding combine threshing systems is fundamental to buying this high-priced piece of equipment. Editor Willie Vogt does the homework for you by defining each company’s approach to achieving record harvests with minimal grain loss.

Read: 7 combine threshing systems for harvest

6-Product of the year: The Gleaner S8. Agco Gleaner’s newest combine series, the Gleaner S8, won Farm Industry News’ product of the year in our annual FinOvation Awards. Kevin Bien, marketing manager for Gleaner, offers a look at the combine, and the features engineered over three years to reach the S8 series and roll out a Class 8 machine.

Read: Gleaner S8 Product of the Year

7-Test drive: New Claas Lexion 780 combine. Claas brought intern Julian Kollmeyer all the way from Germany to give us a ride in the Lexion 780, Claas’ biggest combine to date and its second class 10 model. 

Read: Test driving the new Claas Lexion 780 combine