"There is zero-till machinery in Australia but I wondered if there were better products overseas," he said.

Stephen also wanted to investigate if there were better ways to farm than current no-till practices in Australia, and hoped to find out on his scholarship world study tour.

With his wife Nikki, Stephen crops 600 hectares to wheat, malt barley, canola and faba beans at Riverton.

They have used no-till for about 13 years and while there have been vast improvements in soil health and moisture retention, Stephen knew there was more potential in his crops.

"We live in a high-rainfall zone with more than 500 millimetres annually," he said.

"Some studies suggest that we should have a potential wheat yield of about 6 tonnes a hectare.

"We have achieved up to 5.5t/ha but this occurred in years with less rainfall spread over the entire growing season.

"The potential for the other crops we grow is also a lot higher than what we currently achieve."

With that in mind, Stephen decided to sell all his sheep last year to focus solely on zero-till cropping.

He also applied for the scholarship, wanting to further investigate zero-till disc seeding systems in high-rainfall growing zones across the world and the technology's impact on soil biology and nutrient cycling.

Sponsored by the Grains Research & Development Corporation, Stephen's 16-week tour takes in many disc manufacturers and crop research centres, such as world-leading wheat and maize breeding facilities in India and Mexico.

He will also visit Europe, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand.

Once back in Australia, Stephen will give presentations on what he learns and write a report on his findings.

He also hopes to have a new zero-till double disc seeder for the 2011 season, at a cost of $100,000-$120,000.

* Full Cropping report in Stock Journal, February 11 issue.