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 seed.

Jimmy was one of the first in his area to experiment with pollinator strips and companion crops to help control sugarcane aphids in grain sorghum.

He’s been using soil tests to monitor soil health since 2011, utilizing cover crops to enhance soil health. He is currently involved a multi-year water-holding capacity study examining water use of cover crops. Jimmy is also trying companion crops and with sorghum to attract beneficial insects and decrease the need for additional synthetic nutrients.

Jimmy shares what he’s learned about soil health on his farm through workshops, field days and test plots. “I want my neighbors, my friends, other board members to be able to come and to learn a little bit about what we are doing. A lot of people think it’s just dirt — that all we have to do is put a little water and some nutrients on it,” he says. 

Jimmy and Ginger also have a 250 cow/calf herd and take in yearling cattle for custom grazing on the nearly 6000 acres of native range. Ginger is the primary cattle manager in the operation. 

The Emmons’ utilize an adaptive multi-paddock grazing system on their range and forages grown on crop ground. The system keeps native grasses and soils healthy, maximizes biological diversity and optimizes animal health. Jimmy developed an innovative portable watering system that allows them to move animals frequently and graze acres that don’t have permanent water.

Leadership and communication have been fundamental to Jimmy as he’s cross-crossed the U.S. preaching what he practices – and practices what he preaches.

Over the past several years, Jimmy has hosted field days to show visitors how he manages his land. As many as 150 farmers and ranchers have come on a given day to listen to him speak. The farm also hosts scholars and foreign visitors from around the world.

Judges says the no-tiller has indeed been innovative with his farm practices, has been generous sharing research results with others and focusing on the ROI of conservation practices.

“I have had the privilege of working with many past winners of the Leopold Conservation Award in other states and I can say that without a doubt, Jimmy is very deserving of being inducted into this prestigious group of conservation champions,” said Keith Berns, president of Green Cover Seed, when Emmons won the 2017 Leopold Award for his conservation efforts. 

“If Aldo Leopold were living today, he and Jimmy would have much in common and would have been friends and colleagues in the quest for better land stewardship.”

ADAM DAUGHERTY

Daugherty serves as the NRCS District Conservationist for Coffee County, Tenn., and has spearheaded efforts to increase no-till and cover crop adoption there. 

He started his “soil rejuvenation” journey in the fall of 2013 with 8 long-term no-till producers on about 2,000 acres. Since 2013, Adam has worked with more than 70 growers in Coffee County implementing diverse high-biomass cover crop mixes on over half the cropland acres in the county. 

Adam Daugherty

Adam has worked hand in hand with the farmers to help them transitioning from long term no-till production to a high-functioning agro-ecological farming system. He’s helped implement the systems on a wide diversity of farm operations and helped growers learn firsthand how to handle the ever-evolving dynamics of managing and succeeding with the transition from long term no-till into biomass cover systems.

Judges note that Daugherty has often gone beyond his NRCS job description to not only promote conversation but bring farmers together to collect information and best practices to make the region better.

TRUAX CO.

As a landscaper in the early 1970s, Jim Truax experienced firsthand the frustration of trying to plant native prairie grasses with available equipment. These frustrations led to the development of the groundbreaking Truax drill and equipment designed to effectively meter and plant seeds at a shallow depth. 

Truax, the No-Till Innovator award winner for business and service, got no-till started in some of the areas where the company’s equipment was used through restoration work on extremely rough land, “land that they don't agriculturally use,” he told No-Till Farmer in a recent interview. 

“And we had to build equipment that would take the beating and keep on seeding in very harsh conditions, on one hand, yet get seed placement where the percentage of germination weren't spending the time and money to do it.”

Jim Truax

Truax says the company has “gone above and beyond” to ensure its equipment is available to researchers and “anybody that is interested in grasses and restoration work. If they needed equipment, we would either allow them to use at no charge what we had or build a one-off model for their needs.”

In 2024, the company was preparing to build another drill for the U.S. Forest Service at the Rocky Mountains Experimental Station in Boise, Idaho, to do extensive research comparing what a double disc drill will get in percentage of germination compared to a single disc drill designed by the U.S. Forest Service.

In some ways, the equipment Truax developed was a “gateway” to farmers getting comfortable with no-till. “Well, farmers by nature are conservative. They need to be,” Jim says. “They’ve got a hard rock to rub against. And they want to be assured that they are going to get the return on their investment.”

Truax’s first machines were two box drills for fluffy chaffed seed, and the small hard seed like switchgrass, for the legumes. Within a few years Truax added a third box to do de-bearded seed or grains or beans. 

“That was the first big step. And then what followed was building frames that would go onto the existing drills so they could have no-till. They would hydraulically raise and lower so they could no-till on demand because not every site needs it or should have it. But they have to have the flexibility to deliver it when they need it.”

Jim says tenacity has gotten the business where it is today. 

“Whenever things have gotten rough going, you just sit back, try to get a clear head and think through it and think where you can improve something, and further yourself, and further the business, and overcome the challenge. Whether it's lack of sales -- which we don't have now -- to a lack of equipment. You just take one step at a time and don’t get excited.”

NORTH JERSEY RC&D

The North Jersey RC&D caught the attention of judges due to their involvement in conservation ag in a non-traditional ag area, including publishing the “No-Till and Cover Crops Handbook.”

The organization’s mission is to facilitate the transition to sustainable use and protection of the region’s human and natural resources through partnerships, education and innovation.

The non-profit dedicated to community needs through conservation, working throughout Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset and Union counties, covering 1.4 million acres or 2,228 square miles. 

From the forested ridges in the northwest, to the rolling forests and farmland in the Highlands, to the urban areas of Union County, the North Jersey RC&D area displays the great diversity offered in the state. 

North Jersey RC&D has three focus areas:

Agricultural Sustainability: This means improving soil health and water quality through the use of appropriate agricultural best management practices, and sustaining the agricultural industry by implementing programs which enhance farming operations and economic viability

Water Resource Protection: Improving water quality and quantity in the region and protecting and improving riparian corridors through the implementation of stream restoration techniques.

Community Development: Improving the region’s ability to maximize the use of its human and economic resources. Some of the projects the organization has been a part of includes a grazing initiative, Regenerative Farm Network, cost sharing, EQIP assistance, renewable energy development, an on-farm soil health trial, field days, grands and awards.

Another important project is the handbook, which was authored by Bridgett Hilshey, Christian Bench and the North Jersey RC&D. The content was based upon work supported by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program.

The No-Till & Cover Crops Handbook offers a basic, how-to guide for implementing soil-saving practices on the farm, including field preparation, equipment requirements, how no-till and covers impact other agronomic practices and more. It includes contributions from over 20 experts, including crop consultants, agricultural equipment specialists, experienced farmers, and federal, state and non-profit agricultural service providers.

No-Till Farmer is working to share the practical knowledge in the book more broadly through the magazine, the National No-Tillage Conference and National Cover Crop Summit. It will also serve as a basis for a “Getting Started with No-Till Farming” series of articles to appear in No-Till Farmer through 2025 to further no-till education for those adopting the practice.

“What started as a ‘train the trainer’ program to convey the merits of no-till and cover crops flourished into an outstanding 101-type primer for farmers moving into conservation ag,” says Laura Tessieri, North Jersey RC&D’s executive director.