After years of helping countless farmers make a lot of money, I finally decided to try and make a go of it myself. In 2007 I bought 7,000 acres of farmable ground in northeast Morawa, Australia, and am now officially a no-till farmer and consultant.

To gauge the world’s supply of arable farming acres, an agricultural expert once compared Earth to the size of an apple, cut into 32 slices. The number of acres suitable for food production represents only one slice, and the apple’s skin represents the world’s supply of topsoil.

Inspiration hit no-tiller Colin Harper as he stared at the effects of a bulldozer's track on the ground, and his problems with planting into canola stubble were soon overcome.

Picture in your mind a beautiful morning on the farm. The sun is peeking over the horizon, the temperature is pleasantly mild and there is no wind to speak of as you stride toward your tractor to start the workday. After hooking up your sprayer, you're off to spend the rest of your morning applying herbicides to 300 acres of corn you planted in a rutless, endlessly level plot of land.

For an example of the Australian no-tilling experience, Jeff Esdaile advises a trip to North America’s Great Plains rather than an overseas flight to the land of kangaroos.