A contest to find the heaviest watermelon has been held in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. Seven fruits were entered in this year's competition. They were of the Carolina Cross variety; this is a type of jumbo watermelon grown for livestock feed.
Farmers say conditions were not ideal this season, as temperatures remained low, but the watermelons in the contest were all huge and had to be carried on a forklift. The winner weighed in at 80 kilograms. That's about 6.5 times the weight of the heaviest class of edible watermelons.
Yamamoto Toshio was the proud owner of the prizewinning watermelon. He has been cultivating the fruit for more than 30 years. He says he is happy because his previous record was about 60 kilograms. He intends to aim for more than 100 kilograms next year.
Source: nhk.or.jp