Ashburton farmers Eric and Maxine Watson have recorded the world’s highest yielding wheat crop.
The couple produced a staggering 16.791 tonnes per hectare, beating the previous Guinness World Record of 16.519 tonnes held for two years by a United Kingdom farmer.
That would make a lot of bread, if it wasn’t already earmarked for dairy cow fodder.
Irrigated wheat yields in New Zealand average around 12 tonnes a hectare, demonstrating how remarkable the new record is.
The Oakley variety wheat crop was planted in mid-April 2016 and harvested mid-February this year.
Eric Watson says it’s a big relief to have achieved the record, especially after coming close in previous years.
” I feel a bit overcome in a way, it’s quite an achievement.”
He expects more recognition of New Zealand’s arable industry as a result.
Watson puts his success down to his partnership with Bayer for its agronomy advice and range of crop protection measures, and Yara for its nutrition input.
Two years ago, Bayer New Zealand worked with Warren Darling of Timaru to get the world record for barley, crop science country manager Scott Hanson says. “The addition of the wheat world record firmly puts New Zealand at the forefront of worldwide farming.”
The Watsons have won numerous farming awards, including Lincoln University’s South Island Farmer of the Year Award and the Supreme Award in the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
They say the world record is the pinnacle of their success, but believe they can even beat that.
