Twenty-four years ago Australian Ron Greentree was mowing lawns for a living. This year he will plant wheat on an area the size of Hong Kong, and good rains combined with high prices could bring him a A$100 million windfall.
Greentree, 48, the biggest individual wheat grower in Australia and, he believes, the world, survived two straight years of serious drought to nearly double his landholdings this year and is now planning his biggest-ever crop.
He's at the fore of a global drive to plant more wheat, corn, soy and rice to capitalise on prices that have doubled or more within the past year and a half.
Using satellite-guided tractors running 24 hours a day and a staff of just 25, plus casuals at planting and harvest, he can produce 250,000 tonnes of wheat in a good year -- and if rain keeps coming, this year will be one of Australia's best.
Even with automation Greentree still has little opportunity to engage in his favourite hobby -- competitive woodchopping.
"I seem to be getting less and less time to do it," says laconic Greentree, who's the son of a world champion axeman.
This year he has spent A$100 million to buy 45,000 hectares (111,000 acres) of land, nearly doubling a landholding that now stretches from Moree, 500 kilometres (310 miles) northwest of Sydney, to the Queensland/New South Wales border 350 km to the south.