After a successful, tiring trip to the 2025 Agritechnica trade fair in Hanover, Germany, MacDon’s Dave Franciosy and Markus Trost hopped on a train to head home. As they chatted on the train, they began discussing ideas for a brand shoot. But not just any brand shoot; they decided on a concept unlike anything anyone has done before – to have every size of MacDon header available in Europe on different combines. And not stationary combines, but ones actively cutting in a single field at the time.

The idea, they admit, was lofty. Two years earlier, they attempted a similar shoot but were unsuccessful; there are so many moving parts, so many obstacles, and so many things that can (and in that prior instance did) go wrong. And the previous plan was just a multi-brand shoot; including every MacDon header available in Europe added even more challenges.

And yet, Franciosy and Trost decided the idea was worth one more try.

“What it was originally about is how we fit on different combines. We also wanted to show what size headers we have available in Europe, which then added a huge amount of complexity. More than we actually generally thought,” laughs Franciosy.

“So we decided we would look into it. And then with help from dealers and farmers and everyone, it just started to become possible.”

In the end, Franciosy and Trost achieved their goal and were able to get an FD261 header on a New Holland CR11; an FD250 on a John Deere X91100; an FD245 on a Fendt Ideal 10T; an FD241 on a CLAAS Lexion 780; an FD235 on a New Holland CR10.90; an FD230 on a Case IH 8250; and finally an FD225 on a New Holland CX8.90.

But the journey to get there was anything but simple.
 

LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION.

The first step in the planning process was choosing a location for the shoot.

Because of the season, Franciosy and Trost knew they’d be looking in northern Germany. Still, they also had to consider the direction the fields face so filming and photos would be optimal, find fields without obstructions, and find fields long enough. And, of course, find a farmer willing to sacrifice a harvesting weekend for an adventurous project that may or may not work out.

They zeroed in on a farm on the island of Rügen. Germany’s largest island, Rügen, is located in the Baltic Sea, and Trost had a preexisting relationship with a farmer there who was eager to participate.

“He was directly from the first question 100 percent on board, and said, ‘Oh, really cool, we can do it on the farm, no problem. We have the field size, we have good skylight behind, we have the Baltic Sea behind, we have the frame to manage the whole crop which is coming.’ And I said, OK, then we have the farm, we have the field, we have the crop, this is good,” says Trost.

The chosen farm was Agrar GmbH & Co. KG Wittow-Süd in the northernmost part of the island. They have around 1750 hectares of land and grow mainly wheat, barley, and rapeseed. It’s a stunning location that also comes with a challenge — because the farm borders the Baltic Sea, it became necessary to ferry combines and headers to the shoot location.
 

LOGISTICS. LOGISTICS. LOGISTICS.

Before Franciosy and Trost could even start thinking about transport, they had to locate all the headers and combines needed for the shoot.

“We had to do a few special things to get all the sizes together because some of the combines were owned by farmers, and then some of the combines were owned by dealers. So literally, it was the willingness of the dealers and the farmers to disrupt three days during their harvest season,” says Franciosy.

“We were a bit taken aback at how much they wanted to be involved. When we had the first meeting with them, they just said this is just so crazy, we'd be daft not to do it.”

“I started a conversation with two dealers, two of my key dealers in Germany. One is a C&H dealer; that's the company Wüstenberg. And the other one is Raiffeisen Technik North East.

And both are directly on board… they love crazy things like that. They appreciate that they can be a part of something big like this,” adds Trost.

“And at the end, we had everything together in under, let's say, under three weeks. So that's pretty quick.”

While all the combines and headers were located in Germany, some still traveled more than 100 kilometers to be present for the shoot day. In one instance, a combine came from nearly 300 km away (a nine-hour combine drive) because the dealer didn’t realize the date, and the combine needed for the shoot was all the way in Berlin. So they drove through the night to make it to Rügen in time.

In addition to the distance some combines and headers needed to travel, they then needed to be loaded onto a ferry, in some instances, two ferries to get to the island and then to the farm.

“We had the CR11 over two ferries and the Case over two ferries and the CX over two ferries. And the 61 ft. was with a ferry, the 35 ft. was with a ferry, the 45 was with a ferry, and the rest was on the island,” explains Trost.

On top of all that, Franciosy describes a tense-at-the-time (but rather funny now) moment when his rental car broke down and blocked the only road out of the ferry terminal, holding up everyone’s disembarkment for an hour or so. But with a little patience and perseverance, everything worked out, and all the combines and headers made it to where they needed to go.

With transport issues behind them, Franciosy and Trost could focus on executing their vision for shoot day.
 

TWELVE HOURS TO GET IT DONE!

All the planning and equipment transport culminated in a 12-hour shoot day on Aug 9, 2026.

The timeline got pushed up a day owing to inclement weather, but luckily for Franciosy and Trost, everyone was able to accommodate.

“I was nervous of getting it wrong. Just because the amount of time and effort we put into it. And you're literally living on a knife’s edge. Like all it took was one combine not to turn up, one combine to break down, one driver not to be able to drive comfortably that close. It would just literally fall apart,” says Franciosy

“It wasn't until 11 a.m. on Sunday that I think me and Markus finally realized we'd pulled it off… You can plan, and you can have as many Excel spreadsheets as you want, but we're in the middle of a busy harvest season; some of them were demo combines, so technically they should have been demoing them and trying to sell them, but instead, they all came and had a bit of a party.”

In total, Trost estimates 20-25 people were involved; he managed the combine and tractor drivers over the phone, instructing them how to drive, how far, and when to unload or when the unloading process was starting. Franciosy doesn’t speak German, so Trost handled much of the communication and translation to keep everyone safe and the shoot successful. One farmer didn’t own a mobile phone, so they had to pivot and pair him with someone who did so they could be directed quickly and safely.

A video created by YouTuber JP Agrar, who happened to be on site during the shoot, along with footage from five drones captured by Franciosy, perfectly illustrates that “ballet,” as Trost calls it.

The videos show the combines moving through the field incredibly close together, either in a line or in a kind of V-formation at various times throughout the day, the dust from the grain harvest creating dramatic clouds behind them as they harvest. It’s quite a sight to behold.

And even better? No issues, no injuries.

“Everything worked quite well, no damages, no crash, no discussions. No one was complaining. Everyone was enjoying that whole thing,” says Trost.

"We made it fully on point. We had a beautiful sunset. We had a really cool day.”

“No one's done this. Like none of our competitors have done it. And it's not been done in any other MacDon market because it is so complex to do it. And that's why I keep saying we got lucky. We genuinely did,” adds Franciosy.

And they weren’t just there for the brand shoot; the combines were legitimately harvesting grain, and it was top of mind for organizers to make sure that grain was handled correctly and it wasn’t a casualty of the project.

“The other big stumbling block was the farm's infrastructure. It isn't built for seven combines with massive output. So we really did test the infrastructure of the farm that day. Because they had to move like six times more grain than they would have normally done,” explains Franciosy.

But, as they say, all’s well that ends well, and after a very long 12-hour shoot day, and several very long prep days before that, everyone convened for a barbecue organized by the farm owner, who was thrilled to play host for the day.

“I've been with MacDon since 2016, and they always told me it's quite a family thing. And it always has been. It has always felt like a big family. And it was actually quite nice to see people not intertwined with MacDon feeling that as well,” says Franciosy.

“So when we had the barbecue, and everyone was stood around, and we did all the pictures and stuff, it was really nice… We finished at half ten at night, and we all went back to the farm and had a beer. And three of the guys are like, ‘Oh, can we go and do some more stuff?’ So they're actually genuinely upset that it finished.”

RELATIONSHIPS THE KEY TO SUCCESS.

Franciosy and Trost are adamant a project like this could not succeed without preexisting relationships with dealers and farmers who trust both MacDon as a brand and them personally.

“It was really difficult to put together, but it was really easy to put together because we had so many people wanting to help…a real community effort,” says Franciosy.

None of the farmers were paid for their time, and they also sacrificed three days during peak harvesting season, yet the whole project was accomplished on a shoestring budget. The motivation for participation seemed to come purely from the desire to take part in something unprecedented, and to show support for MacDon, as MacDon has supported its dealers and customers for decades.

“It was the absolute most important part to have these relationships, especially with the farmers, because they trust us. On the other side… they lost a full day of their normal daily work with every farmer. Also, the neighbor of the farm, they stopped harvesting, and they moved their combine and three grain tractors to the event because they want to be there,” says Trost.

“That's a big bonus for myself that I built in the last years since I worked for MacDon, these relationships with these farmers. It's not only a customer, it's more friends. Every time when I'm on the island, I visit these farmers… They come, they hug each other because it feels like a family. This is something that you don’t see with other manufacturers.”

Franciosy agrees: relationship building is part of the MacDon brand, and the trust earned with dealers and customers is invaluable to the company and to individual representatives, such as Franciosy and Trost.

So while this multi-brand, full lineup FD2 shoot was, of course, an amazing marketing project, it’s also about acknowledging what can be accomplished with a bit of motivation, a bit of luck, and genuine relationships with dealers and customers that result in a willingness to take part in something extraordinary, if not a bit crazy.

“The massive help from all of our dealers and farmers really showed how our brand sits with people. So it's not about Markus and me doing it; it's about how our brand sits with people,” says Franciosy.

“And I think it's going to be good for the brand all around the world. You know, it has that message that we have a size for every farmer; it doesn't matter where you are in the world. So even though it was done in Europe, it wasn't just done for Europe.”
 
 

Behind the Scenes:
WATCH NOW 

More video content from the day:
Video 1, Video 2, Video 3

Marys Magic Moments:
Instagram: marys_magic_moments_ 

RELEVANT LINKS

Wüstenberg:
Website: wuestenberg-landtechnik.de

Raiffeisen Technik Nord Ost: 
Website: rw.net/rt-nord-ost
Facebook: raiffeisen.waren
Instagram: raiffeisen.waren.gmbh

MacDon Europe:
Facebook: MacDonEurope
Instagram: macdoneurope

Visit our product page to learn more:
FD2 Series FlexDraper® Header

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