Ned's a class act

Claas combine harvesters have a new national product specialist and product champion in Australia.

Edward 'Ned' Jeffery is a fifth-generation Victorian farm boy who comes armed with a set of tertiary qualifications that should be the envy of any agribusiness career seeker.

Claas importer and distributor Landpower Australia has appointed Mr Jeffery as product specialist with national responsibility for the new Lexion 600 and 700 series combine harvester range.

Mr Jeffery has a Bachelor of Business majoring in economics and finance and this year completed an MBA with high distinctions in six key subjects.

As well as being a professional wool classer registered with the Australian Wool Exchange, Mr Jeffery retains an interest in the family farm and is a partner in a chaff manufacturing company based at Euroa, Victoria, and in a small transport business at Tarcombe.

Five generations of Jefferys have had stewardship of the family's 2000-hectare (5000-acre) wool and beef cattle spread near Seymour north of Melbourne.

In the past six years, Mr Jeffery has worked across a range of customer support, finance and sales roles for heavy-duty Kenworth truck distributor PACCAR.

"You can take a man out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the man," according to Mr Jeffery, whose induction to Landpower requires him to get up to speed with some of the most advanced farm machinery technology in the world.

"I'm seriously excited about this important new role and working with Claas and Landpower.

"This has been the company's biggest season ever for combine harvester sales which has been helped along incredibly by the availability of the new Terra Trac hydro-pneumatic suspension factory-fitted tracks.

"As a new member of the team at Landpower, it's fair to say we're all looking beyond the coming winter crop harvest to 2012, when we believe we will break this year's sales record with some of the best gear on the planet."

Mr Jeffery said among what he brought to his new role was an extensive understanding of the people and business of farming.