ERIC Watson from Ashburton, New Zealand has taken out the Guinness World Record for the highest wheat yield for the second consecutive time.
Mr Watson produced an incredible 17.398 tonnes a hectare wheat crop, beating his previous record crop of 16.791t/ha grown in 2017.
On average, irrigated wheat yields in New Zealand produce around 12t/ha.
Mr Watson was thrilled with the result as he strives to continually improve and make advancements to his yields and farming operation.
"We are very proud to have achieved such a result," he said.
"The Guiness World Record is a nice recognition of our hard work and new innovations we've put in place. While we were thrilled with the record result in 2017, we saw ways in which we could make improvements and achieve an even higher yield.
"By trying new cultivars, switching to liquid nitrogen and monitoring plant health more regularly we were able to achieve another incredible result.
"Because of the high wheat yields we can grow on our farm we are pleased if we see yields increase year-on-year by 100-200kg/ha so to beat my last crop by almost 600kg/ha exceeded even my hopes."
Planted in April 2019 and harvested on Feburary 17, 2020, the wheat variety is Kerrin, bred by KWS and supplied by Carrfields Grain & Seed, and will likely be used for feeding New Zealand's beef or dairy herd.
Eric worked closely with Bayer's NZ Crop Science team for both of his records receiving agronomy advice and using a range of their crop protection herbicides and fungicides.
Bayer Regional Business Manager for Mid & South Canterbury David Weith said the latest Guinness World Record showed NZ was an important part of the global arable market and put the country at the forefront in developing farming techniques and technologies that could be utilised by other farming nations to feed the world.
"We are delighted to see another Guinness World Record come out of New Zealand and to have contributed to this incredible result" Mr Weith said.
"Bayer is focused on improving crop yields through developing innovative products and crop management solutions. Our aim is to assist New Zealand to sustainably become the highest yield producing country in the world."
The record attempt was a team effort with PGG Wrightson Rural Supplies, Yara Fertilisers, SGS, Davis Ogilvie and Hill Laboratories in particular working alongside Bayer to help Eric achieve the result.
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