The Harvest for Kids fundraising event has set a new Guinness world record for the most combine harvesters working simultaneously in the same field.
Organised by Children’s Camps International (CCI), the event broke the record with 303 combines – smashing the previous record of 244 combines in a similar Harvest for Kids fundraising event in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 2012.
This year’s record breaking attempt was staged in a 121ha (300-acre) field near Winkler in the province of Manitoba, Canada, where all 303 combines harvested the same crop of winter wheat continuously for five minutes.
Working in a swathed crop, fitting the harvesters with pick-up headers provided more space to run them closer together. Harvesters came from all over southern Manitoba, some as far away as the Saskatchewan border, and the event required a 1,000-strong army of volunteers, sponsors and operators.
Harvest for Kids was created to raise awareness for CCI in the agricultural community, and to raise funds to send children in developing countries to camp. It is anticipated that this year’s event raised close to US$5 million.
The original world record was established in 2006 with 105 combines. This number grew to 200 in 2010 and 244 in 2012.
