Eric Watson wins Guinness World Records™ title for the highest wheat yield for the second time
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Take a bow Eric
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It’s a repeat victory! Eric Watsons wins Guinness World Records title for highest wheat yield for the second time. Watch the video here.
On 17 February 2020, Eric’ big Case IH harvester muscled through his paddock of outstanding Kerrin wheat situated on his farm at Wakanui, near Ashburton, and harvested what is now an official Guinness World Records title for the highest wheat yield ever grown.
The stunning 17.389 tonnes per hectare yield surpassed Eric’s own previous world record of 16.791 tonnes per hectare achieved in 2017. Eric paid tribute to the support he had received from the team put together to support this record attempt but especially from David Weith of Bayer and Paul Johnson of Yara.
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Harvester at full throttle
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What makes this story even more incredible is that Eric and David, with an eye on the future, applied inputs with a focus on sustainability to achieve this record. Watch the video here.
It’s Eric vision that the future of arable farming globally lies in higher yields obtained from the same amount, or even less land and with sustainable inputs and less of a footprint.
While the honour of the Guinness World Records title lies with Eric, he hopes this achievement will draw attention to the great work done across the plains of Canterbury by New Zealand’s skilled and professional arable farmers. It’s this skill, plus the range of highly fertile Canterbury soils and enviable climate which make achieving very high yields possible.
However it’s not just wheat and barley; much of the world’s radish, carrot, and vegetable seed is grown in Canterbury as well as many hectares of grass seed. What makes this tremendous achievement all the more impressive is the progress made in a relatively short timespan.
As David says, “When I first started in this industry, we were getting four tonnes of wheat per hectare. Now we’re getting into the 17 tonnes.”
With this kind of progress being made, what else could be possible?
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