Rice combine harvester is one of the typical agricultural machines developed in the process of rice production in Japan. Recently 5 kinds of turning methods have been introduced in which 3 of them have already been applied to commercial machines while the other 2 are subjected to experimentation for future commercialization. In this paper, the turning methods were evaluated from different viewpoints in terms of smooth turning with less energy and less disturbance of the top soil in paddy fields with emphasis placed on (1) energy conservation, (2) safety and (3) automation.