Robert McSkimming and his family planted a 17ha paddock of sunflowers on their property, which have bloomed very quickly for all to see.
Mr McSkimming planted the seeds in mid-November. By the middle of last month many of the plants were above 2m and created a pretty picture.
He said at one stage the plants, and there were 2.1 millon of them, were growing 38mm a day.
They were not too hard to look after — they required a bit of water and some fertiliser but they grew well.
A nice hot summer helped, he said.
The family was looking to diversify the property and decided on sunflowers, which he believed was a first for Maniototo.
Ukraine used to be the main supplier of sunflower oil in the world but its war with Russia had put a dent in its exports.
Mr McSkimming said the stunning view of sunflowers in the wide open paddock had caught the attention of many.
They had a couple of open days, school pupils had visited and people had driven from far away to view the sunflowers in bloom.
"It was really quite spectacular and people loved looking at them," he said.
The plants were starting to die now and would be harvested in the next 10 days to two weeks. He had brought in bird scarers to deter sparrows.
The harvesters would come in and pick up the seeds which would be sent to Rolleston to be processed. He envisaged a harvest of between 3 and 4 tonnes per hectare, comparable to the returns for barley.
The paddock could not be used for sunflowers for seven years and would be used for barley next season.
