LOOKING BACK
75 YEARS LEADING THE FIELD DURING WORLD WAR II A SUGARCANE HARVESTER WAS
DEVELOPED IN AN AUSTRALIAN BACKWATER THAT
WOULD EVENTUALLY MORPH INTO THE ENDURING
106 iVT International Off-Highway 2020
CASE IH AUSTOFT BRAND
In 1944 the To brothers of Bundaberg,
Queensland, constructed their rst sugarcane
harvester. e machine sold so well that by
the 1970s To Bros. was one of the major
manufacturers of cane harvesters in the world
and Bundaberg a global centre for the
development and manufacture of the machines.
Changing market forces saw the company
move through a number of foreign owners before
being reclaimed by Australian interest in 1986
and rebranded Austo . In 1996 Case IH became
the parent company when it acquired Austo .
e following year, the machines transitioned to
the iconic red livery of the Case IH brand. e
Bundaberg Austo plant was closed
in 2004 and operations shi ed to
Piracicaba in Brazil. Despite this, the
Austo name remained.
Today, Austo sugarcane harvesters
cut around half a billion metric tons of
sugarcane per year worldwide. e
machines have evolved into high-tech, sleeklooking
beasts but retain the innovative edge that
heralded their arrival 75 years ago. Nothing
typi es this more than their latest o erings, the
8010 and 8810, which feature operational video
cameras, automated crop divider li cylinders
and improved engine protection so ware.
“It’s amazing that a small company, started by
three brothers in Bundaberg Australia, has grown
into a worldwide brand in sugarcane harvesting.
It’s been a great privilege for me to be part of that
journey,” says Kenneth Schmidt, product
performance manager (pictured above, le )–
Austo , who has been working with the company
since the 1970s. “With 75 years of expertise in the
eld of mechanized sugarcane harvesting, the
Austo is an iconic piece of machinery and we’re
proud to have it in our range.”
The original Toft
cane harvester,
built in 1944
ABOVE: The new Case IH Austoft 8010
sugarcane harvester
TOP: Kenneth Schmidt (left), Case IH product
performance manager – Austoft and Jaime
Finguerut, director and board member at ITC,
celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Case
IH Austoft harvester at the South East Asia
Sugarcane Summit in Thailand
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
Ace Pump .....................................................63
ASM ..............................................................77
B&R Industrial ............................................29
Bauser ..........................................................95
Bondioli & Pavesi .......................................... 4
Caldaro .........................................................95
Caterpillar ....................................................37
Control Technologies .................................84
Cummins ......................................................44
Curtis Instruments ...............................11, 72
Curtiss-Wright............................................. 84
Deep Sea Electronics .................................34
EAO ...............................................................23
Eberspächer Climate Control....................90
Elobau ..........................................................27
Hatz / Motorenfabrik Hatz ........................55
HydraForce ..................................................56
IFPE Show Management / ConExpo ......107
iVT Expo .....................................................104
John Deere Power Systems ......................15
Kawasaki Precision Machinery .................17
Liebherr Components .................................. 7
Motometer ...................................................89
Multi-Wing ................................................... 64
Murphy by Enovation Controls .................96
Perkins .......................................................108
PMP ..............................................................43
Siko ...............................................................64
Stucchi ..........................................................31
TTControl .....................................................77
Twin Disc ........................................................ 2
Wandfl uh ......................................................63
Würth............................................................89
Yanmar .........................................................55