Either way, his caravan is up for sale.

"I'm not retiring - I just enjoy my work too much," John Coggan said.

He was speaking to Queensland Country LifeM alongside his son Phillip, and grandson Tom, while gazing over a vast winter crop that was waving in the breeze for as far as the eye could see.

"I'd much rather be standing here looking down on the crop, than be looking up at it from the underside," he quipped.

It's been a taxing journey for the Coggan family which staged an attempt on the world record for planting wheat in a 24-hour window earlier this year by way of a fundraiser for Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital Foundation.

John said he now only required hospital check-ups every six months but still takes a handful of tablets daily.

Days before his operation he recalled he could not even squeeze a finger and thumb together.

"So I'm in pretty good shape now but must cut back a bit on my eating," he said.

The still-to-be-ratified record attempt saw a four-strong team from his Enarra property trump an earlier record set in Ukraine by planting 905ha of wheat in 24-hours.

"A friend of mine was in Ukraine recently and he said they could not believe we did what we did," John Coggan said.

"Down the track, I hope someone pips us - but for a good cause."

* Extract from a full story to appear in Queensland Country Life, October 9 edition.