Kingfisher Lions Clubs members recently heard from one of the international leaders in the soil health movement.

Jimmy Emmons, of Leedey recently spoke to the local civic group about regenerative farming, which includes increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil, making it healthier.

Emmons said the average organic matter in soil in 1930 was 4 to 7 percent.

Today, that number ranges from .5 to 2 percent, he said.

Each percentage point of organic matter, Emmons said, will hold, on average, 20,000 gallons of water per acres.

The practices used to increase organic matter in the soil include no-till farming, cover crops, rotational grazing and rotating crops.

Emmons and his wife, Ginger, manage 2,000 cropland acres and 5,000 rangeland acres in Dewey County with regenerative agriculture techniques. In the 10 years they’ve

In the 10 years they’ve practice regenerative farming, the soil organic matter has increased from .5 percent to 3.5 percent.

In 2017, the Emmons’ farm was named a Leopold Conservation Award winner. On its website, it says the award “recognizes and celebrates extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation by private landowners, inspires countless other landowners by example and provides a prominent platform by which agricultural community leaders are recognized as conservation ambassadors to citizens outside of agriculture.”

Emmons is a former regional coordinator for the USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation Program.

He’s currently the soil health mentoring coordinator for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission.