Jimmy Emmons, a Leedey, Okla., no-tiller who’s been featured in No-Till Farmer magazine and keynoted at the most recent National No-Tillage Conference, has been appointed to a high-ranking job with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Emmons was recently sworn in as Assistant Chief of the NRCS, where he is expected to bring some of his hands-on farming experience to the agency as reorganization refocusing efforts continue under USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and NRCS Chief Aubrey Bettencourt.
Emmons had been mentioned last fall as a candidate for USDA secretary in the Trump Administration before Rollins was selected to lead the massive agency. He served as an undersecretary at the USDA during Trump’s first term.
With his trademark phrase, “Long Live the Soil,” Emmons was a keynote speaker at the 33rd annual NNTC in January and honored as a No-Till Innovator at the event by No-Till Farmer and Lessiter Media.
Emmons is the owner of Emmons Farms and Emmons Ventures. He is Vice President of Climate Smart Agriculture Programs at Trust in Food and has served with No-Till in the Plains, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and Oklahoma Assn. of Conservation Districts.
Jimmy and his wife, Ginger, received Sand County Foundation's first Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award in 2017. “U.S. agriculture will get a boost with Jimmy Emmons' leadership on building public trust in food, soil health, and farm sustainability,” said Kevin McAleese, Sand County Foundation President and CEO, in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, a friend of Emmons and the longest-standing member of the House Ag Committee, was with Emmons when he was sworn in.
“As a lifelong Oklahoman, Jimmy has spent years working around the state and across the country promoting innovative and voluntary conservation practices,” Lucas said on X.
“Having someone like this in a position to lead farm policy isn’t just beneficial for Oklahoma, but the entire country and the world. I am proud of my longtime friend and fellow Oklahoman for his willingness to serve the nation and his commitment to the American farmer.”
Emmons and his wife Ginger have been farming and ranching together since 1980. They have a diverse 2,000-acre cropping operation growing wheat, soybeans, sesame, sunflowers, irrigated dairy alfalfa hay, canola, grain sorghum and several cover crops for seed.
They also have a 250 cow/calf herd and take in yearling cattle for custom grazing on the nearly 6,000 acres of native range. Ginger is the primary cattle manager in the operation.
