The No-Till Innovator Award program, sponsored by Calmer Corn Heads and No-Till Farmer, strives to honor farmers, researchers, businesses and service providers, and organizations for their contributions to the growth and success of no-till practices. 

We enlisted No-Till Farmer’s Advisory Board again this year to evaluate nominees on their experience with no-till, advocacy and outreach efforts, innovations, community involvement and more. 

After narrowing down the pool of nominees to a select group of finalists in each category, the judges determined the 2024 honorees are:

• North Jersey RC&D (Organization)
• Jimmy Emmons (Crop Production) 
• Adam Daugherty (Research & Education)
• Truax Co. (Business & Service)

JIMMY EMMONS

Conservation has been a cornerstone of the Emmons family approach for generations. Back in 1934, when a big flood occurred, Emmons’ grandfather witnessed all the topsoil to the depth of the plough plane wash into a river. 

That event became a personal warning sign of the need for soil and water conservation. Jimmy’s father would later experience a similar event.

When Jimmy took over Emmons Farm he began implementing no-till practices on his cropland. As he learned more about other conservation practices that might benefit his land, he also started using crop rotation, cover crops and planned grazing management to reduce soil erosion from wind and water.

Jimmy Emmons

Emmons and his wife Ginger have been farming and ranching together since 1980 and manage a diverse 2,000-acre operation raising wheat, soybeans, sesame, sunflowers, irrigated dairy alfalfa hay, canola, grain sorghum and several cover crops for…