World record for simultaneous threshing set as part of Harvesting Hope

Record was set in Austin, Manitoba

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

The world record for “most threshing machines operating simultaneously” was set in Austin, Manitoba as part of Harvesting Hope.

Visitors and participants from across North America watched 139 antique threshing machines harvest a field simultaneously for 15 minutes to break the previous record of 111 machines. That record was set by a group of farmers from St. Albert, Ontario in 2015.

The record remains unofficial until it’s certified by Guinness World Records.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Elliot Sims, co-organizer of Harvesting Hope: A World Record to Help the Hungry, said in a release. “You just don’t see stuff like this anymore.”

In total, 75 acres of winter wheat was bound and 30,000 sheaves were cut to be threshed during the event. The machines had the capacity to thresh a total of 17,000 bushels per hour.

An audience watches the threshing machines in action.
Photo: Harvesting Hope

Funds raised during the event will be split between the Manitoba Agricultural Museum and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

The total amount raised is still unknown, but how the funds are allocated has already been determined.

The portion going to the Manitoba Agricultural Museum will be used to help preserve the province’s agricultural heritage.

The portion going to the Foodgrains Bank will help farm families in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya learn to grow more and better food.