Published: February 09, 2012

John Deere Sets World Record With Combine Constructed From Canned Food

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It's a new world record! John Deere's Project "Can Do" created a full-sized combine made entirely from food -- 308,448 cans of food and 11,268 bags of food to be exact. According to Guinness® World Records, that's a new record for the largest sculpture ever built from canned food.

The combine can-food sculpture, which is 60 ft. wide, 80 ft. long and 16 ft. tall and weighs approximately 170 tons, recognizes the vital role America's farmers play in feeding the world. The sculpture depicts John Deere's new S-Series Combine harvesting corn and showcases how new equipment and technologies are helping farmers meet the growing world demand for food.

The can sculpture was built November 12-17 by a team of 450 John Deere volunteers including employees, retirees, employee families and friends. The can-food sculpture took more than 1800 hours to build and contains more than 15 different kinds of canned food, as well as 11,268 bags of popcorn, peas and beans. The sculpture was on display at the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Ill., until December 12.

"Project 'Can Do' gave our employees, retirees and their families a tremendous sense of accomplishment and pride in being part of this good-will effort," says Nicole Schneider, project co-leader/copywriter for John Deere Ag & Turf Division. "We all are thrilled with the success of this project and that all the food was donated to help those in need. In fact, for every volunteer who worked on the build, one person in need will be fed for one year with all the donated food."

Richard Williamson, project co-leader/art director for John Deere Ag & Turf Division, says the project is considered a zero-landfill project with all of the building materials being recycled or reused. In addition, he credits several organizations for supporting the company's efforts to create the world's largest can-food sculpture.

"The project wouldn't have been possible without technical help from a number of organizations," Williamson adds. "Those include Canstruction®, Inc., which organizes canstruction competitions worldwide; the Chicago architectural firm RTKL, Inc., that led the design and construction of the project; and Hy-Vee Food Stores, which helped source and deliver all the cans of food."

During the construction phase of the project, John Deere fans from around the world participated by designing "virtual cans" and submitting them via the John Deere Facebook page.

On December 12 all the food was donated to River Bend Foodbank, which serves families in the Quad Cities and 22 counties in Iowa and Illinois.