When opportunity knocks, Oklahoma no-tiller Jimmy Emmons answers

Emmons manages 2,000 acres of farmland and 6,000 acres of rangeland in Leedey, Okla., using no-till, cover crops and planned grazing management across the operation.

Water is the most limiting factor in his part of the state, followed closely by soil depth and quality. With an average of just 20 inches of rain annually, and as little as 6.9 inches in years past, Emmons says it’s critical to utilize every drop of precipitation. During 2021 and 2022, Emmons’s land was dry.

“2022 was the first year in my career that we never harvested a grain of anything,” Emmons says. “We failed a wheat crop, a rye crop, a barley crop, an oat crop and a milo crop — everything we planted for a year and a half.” 

In 2023, however, his operation received substantial rain that Emmons says finished what he had planted and prepared him for summer.

Climatologists have dubbed these volatile conditions “whiplash weather,” or weather patterns characterized by all-or-nothing precipitation and temperature extremes.

“If you’ve noticed over the last few years, we’ve had erratic weather, and that’s probably not going to go away anytime soon,” Emmons says.

Knowing farmers can’t change the weather, Emmons encourages them to adapt and take advantage of climatic changes. Leading by example, Emmons no-tills a diverse cropping operation, using only two irrigation pivots to supplement during extreme weather conditions…