He already holds speed records for milking cows by hand, stomping grapes by foot and picking truffles with the aid of a dog.

On Monday, Maurizio Paschetta added snail picking by hand to his long list of agrarian accolades, smashing a world record that had stood since 1994.

Mr Paschetta, known to his fans as 'the Natural Boy', bagged a whopping 1086 snails in 60 minutes, more than five times as many as Bulgaria’s Nikolaj Milanov had managed when he set the previous record almost 25 years prior.

“I gave it my best shot,” Mr Paschetta said at the end of the competition. “This is what comes out of hard work, but also out of commitment, passion and endurance”. 

Mr Paschetta’s snail-picking feat happened at the Lumache del Marchesato farm in Piedmont, Italy and was overseen by umpire Luigi D’Amico.

The 33-year-old also holds world records for ploughing by hand and stacking small haystacks onto a farming trailer.