Mr Watson, who farms with his wife, Maxine, at Wakanui, produced a wheat crop of 17.398 tonnes per hectare, beating his previous record crop grown in 2017 of 16.791 tonnes per hectare.
On average, irrigated wheat yields in New Zealand produce about 12 tonnes per hectare, demonstrating how remarkable the new record is — an achievement admired by the wider industry — and providing insights into innovations for future growth.
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.
"The Guinness World Record is a nice recognition of our hard work and new innovations we’ve put in place," he
said.
"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 100-200 kg/ha," he said.
"So to beat my last crop by (just over) 600 kg/ha exceeded even my hopes."
The Kerrin wheat variety was planted in April 2019 and harvested this year on February 17. It was bred by agricultural company KWS and supplied by Carrfields Grain and Seed.
