A world record for barley yield has been set in New Zealand at 13.8 t/ha (5.585t/acre). The crop was harvested last January but the record has only recently been verified by Guinness World Record institution.

The record crop came from an 11.6ha field, or paddock as it is called in New Zealand. So this is a whole crop yield rather than from the best section of the field.

The crop was grown by Warren Darling, who farms Poplar Grove Farm near Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand.

The previous world barley yield record was set 25 years ago in the Borders region of Scotland by Gordon Rennie at 12.2 t/ha (4.937 t/ac). The Darlings’ top commercial barley yield last year was 11.5 t/ha, so this tempted Warren to have a go at the 12.2 t/ha record.

He farms about 450ha, with 130ha of barley last year, and runs a simple rotation of rape, wheat and barley.

Warren gives Timaru’s weather much of the credit for the final yield. The coastal location south of Timaru received a lot of rain during last winter and this was important to carry the crop through to spring.

Then they avoided very high summer temperatures during the critical grain fill period, but got plenty of sunshine for harvesting.

Commenting on his achievement, Warren said: “I don’t think this record yield will last another 25 years but hopefully we can bask in glory for a wee while.”

He hinted that he will not attempt a new record for a few years but will try to put the lessons learned from the record-breaking crop to good use in his commercial crops.