Farming in the Midst of Urbanization

Most people would think that there were no farms left in Cobb County; however, Gerald W. Wallace would beg to differ. Wallace moved to this 80 acre tract of land in Powder Springs in 1969. When he moved here, there was no development around him and there was very little traffic to disturb his quaint environment. Over time, development began to creep toward the southwest corner of Cobb County. Land prices increased making it difficult to continue farming in this area.

Due to increased development, flooding along Sweetwater Creek began to affect portions of his lower pastures. Despite all of all the challenges, Wallace continues to make a go of his farm. At first, he was skeptical about working with government programs – too much paper work–too much government intervention. After several meetings, he agreed to let us develop a basic conservation plan for his farm. His conservation plan included his primary goals and objectives for his farm.

After explaining and reviewing NRCS programs and his conservation plan, Wallace decided to participate in government programs. In 2002, Wallace requested information from our local Marietta field office on the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP). Wallace applied for CCRP and was approved to fence out 15.8 acres of bottom land pasture to restore a riparian buffer along Sweetwater Creek near his pasture. Not only did this provide an avenue to increase wildlife habitat, but it removed livestock access to Sweetwater Creek and reduced stream bank erosion.

Additional practices, such as a watering facility and pipeline, were installed to provide adequate water for his livestock. In addition to CCRP, Wallace applied for Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to assist him with additional practices that were not funded under CCRP. Under EQIP, additional measures were funded such as a well, pasture and hayland planting, heavy use protection, fencing and prescribed grazing.

Wallace stated that, “without programs such as EQIP and CCRP, most farmers would not be able to put conservation on the land”. “The cost of materials, labor and gasoline has increased so much that these costshare programs helps us to protect our land and be good stewards of what we have.” “Thanks to these programs, I have clean water for my livestock to drink, management of my pastures has improved through rotational grazing, soil erosion of the streambank has been reduced and the growth of vegetation in the riparian buffer has made a difference since I have fenced out the livestock from the stream.”

Wallace’s Farm is the first Farm to be approved for the CCRP in Cobb County. 

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