Farmer Sets World Corn Harvest Record

Farmer sets world corn harest record AG WORLD Ag World 15-4-19 Although it's not official yet, Illinois farmer Dave Barnett says he set the world corn harvest record last fall for the most corn harvested in one hour. He hopes to get listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Barnett, who farms near Pleasant Plains, harvested 2,247 bu. of corn in one hour of running time on 13 acres. He got the idea to try for the record when he noticed other agricultural categories in the Guinness Book, such as the record wheat harvest (1,020 bu./ hr.), record corn yield (370 bu./acre), etc. There was no listing for corn harvesting so he decided to try to create a new category. To set the record, he left 24-row strips in the field and lined wagons up along both sides for easy unloading. He also enlarged the grain hopper on his Gleaner N-7 to hold 370 bu. A second modification to the combine, which he originally made for soybeans, helped push the high volume of corn material through the machine. He modified the cage sweep around the rotor to keep it free of crop residue. The cage was already equipped with a factory-made sweep, but debris still accumulated where the cage attaches to he machine. "I modified the sweep for continual clearing of the mounting points. In beans this has permitted me to go from 2.7 mph to 3.5 mph," Barnett says, adding that the bean modification appeared to have helped when he made the record-setting harvest. Barnett operated the combine at 4.4 mph while setting the record compared to his usual speed of 3.6 mph. To verify the record-setting attempt, he had seven witnesses in attendance including a local elevator man, a banker, and other independent people. The harvested grain was carefully weighed and documented and the results sent off to Guinness. So far no final decision has been made whether to include the record in the next Guinness book. Barnett notes that he lost at least 5 min. during the record-setting attempt when he overran the screen capacity and choked up the clean grain elevator. He had to stop to clean it out and then opened up the screen a little. "I should have run a trial heat before starting out," he says. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Dave Barnett, RR, Pleasant Plains, Ill. 62677 (ph 217 626-1180).

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