Thousands of people planted rice in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds, setting a Guinness World Record

Taiwan is an agricultural country. In order to arouse the people's attention to the rice industry and eat more high-quality local products, the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan and the Taoyuan County Farmers Association called on 1,215 farmers to gather in the middle of the field to plant rice seedlings together under the scorching sun. As a result, it took only 16 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the 2.1 hectares of rice planting, setting a Guinness World Record for "the largest number of people planting rice at the same location."

1,215 farmers gathered in the middle of the field this morning, bent over and planted rice seedlings together, setting a Guinness World Record for "the largest number of people planting rice seedlings at the same location." (Photo courtesy of the Council of Agriculture)

The Council of Agriculture said that before today, the Guinness World Record for the most people planting rice was set in Thailand in 2010 when 904 people completed 1.6 hectares of rice planting in 30 minutes and 35 seconds. In order to raise people's awareness of rice, pay attention to the rice industry, and eat more domestic rice, we chose August 18th, represented by the Chinese character "rice" (eight, ten, eight), and invited farmers to participate in planting rice in the fields and challenge the Guinness World Record.

Council of Agriculture Chairman Chen Baoji (left), Gold Jewellery World Records Certification Officer Cheng Dong (centre) and Taoyuan County Magistrate Wu Zhiyang (right) jointly announced the Guinness World Record set by the "Thousands of People Planting Rice" event. (Photo courtesy of the Council of Agriculture)

The "Thousands of People Planting Rice" event was held in the farmland on the left side of the 8.4-kilometer section of Expressway No. 66 in Xinwu Township, Taoyuan County, and the rice planting was carried out in small areas. After the whistle sounded, the participants immediately showed their fighting spirit and quickly bent down to plant rice. The challenge was originally scheduled to be completed in 25 minutes, but some people had already raised their signs within 6 minutes, indicating that the task was completed. Then others followed suit. In the end, everyone completed the 2.1 hectares of rice planting in 16 minutes and 20 seconds, setting a Guinness World Record for "the largest number of people planting rice at the same location."

Among the participants, the oldest is 91-year-old Song Huasheng, and the youngest is 16-year-old Huang Xianglong. In addition, there are many families with three generations living together bending over to farm, symbolizing the inheritance and sustainable management of farming from generation to generation, and also writing a historic moment for Taiwan's agriculture.