Lincolnshire farmer, Tim Lamyman, is the new holder of records for wheat and barley crop yields. Photo: YEN

LINCOLNSHIRE grower Tim Lamyman is the new holder of the Guinness World Record for the highest wheat and barley yields.

Records for Mr Lamyman, of Lamyman Worlaby Farms at Louth, came from a wheat crop which yielded 17.96t/ha, and a barley crop which weighed in at 16.2t/ha.

Both crops were grown in 2022 and were entries in the United Kingdom’s Yield Enhancement Network annual awards.

The record wheat crop was harvested from an 8.29ha area in August, while the barley crop was harvested in July.

According to the Guinness World Records site, it was Mr Lamyman’s “belief in his technique of harvesting wheat” that inspired him to take a tilt at the title.

The wheat crop eclipsed the previous record set by New Zealand farmer, Eric Watson, in 2020.

Mr Watson produced a 17.398t/ha crop at his Ashburton property.

He also held the previous record crop yield of 16.791t/ha set in 2017.

Mr Lamyman broke his own barley crop yield of 14.2t, set in 2021.

Fellow New Zealand farmers, Warren and Joy Darling previously held the record barley crop yield.

Based at Timaru on the South Island, the Darlings achieved a yield of 13.8t/ha in 2015.

Before this crop, the barley record had been unbroken for 25 years.

Other world records

Alongside breaking the barley and wheat yield records, Mr Lamyman also currently holds the world record blue pea yield.

He achieved a 6.47t/ha crop from a large blue pea variety in 2017 and easily beat the previous record of 5.21t/ha.

He has also previously held the record rapeseed yield with just over 7t/ha.

The current rapeseed yield record of 7.19t/ha is held by British grower Richard Budd.

UK growers excel despite conditions

The recent world record yields were revealed as part of the YEN awards held at the organisation’s annual conference on January 24.

Gold, silver and bronze awards were presented for exceptional wheat, barley, oilseed and oat yields.

Launched in 2012, YEN focuses on sharing on-farm knowledge and practices and has a primary focus on improving crop yields and the efficient use of farm inputs.

In a statement, YEN founder and director Roger Sylvester-Bradley said Mr Lamyman’s yields and fellow award-winning crops show the skills of these farmers and their agronomists.

He said the 2022 season brought several challenges for these growers, such as, increased input costs, record heat and prolonged drought.

He said despite these issues many growers achieved higher yields than they predicted pre-harvest.

“[E]ither the farms are not understanding how good their soils are, or our science is too pessimistic about how good our potential yields are,” Professor Sylvester-Bradley said.

He said the results were a good sign for the future of cropping in a world impacted by climate change.