At their virtual meeting on September 7, members of the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts (GACD) elected Wes Fogle of Whitfield County as GACD Group 1 Vice-President, and Betts Berry of Catoosa County as GACD Group 1 Alternate Vice-President. Group 1 Vice-Presidents serve on the Board of Directors for GACD in representation of the fifteen Soil and Water Conservation Districts spanning 39 counties across Northwest Georgia. They will serve two-year terms.
Wes was born and raised on a dairy farm in Cope, South Carolina. He worked on the farm throughout his childhood and teenage years until he attended Clemson University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture Economics and Rural Sociology. After college, Wes moved to Dalton, Georgia and began his 29-year career in the textile industry. He currently serves as Director of Sales for Integrated Fiber Solutions.
Wes was exposed to the importance of soil and water conservation at a young age through his family’s partnership with their local USDA- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office. His family utilized several conservation practices on their farm including terraces, filter strips, Conservation Reserve Program land management, and riparian buffer streambank stabilization, to name a few. His family still owns the South Carolina farm. Today, Wes enjoys timber farming, hunting and the outdoors, and splits his time between his land in Georgia and South Carolina. Wes has served as a District Supervisor for the Limestone Valley Soil and Water Conservation District for nine years. He also serves as a board member for the Limestone Valley Watershed Dam Committee and the Limestone Valley Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council.
Marjorie “Betts” Berry was introduced to the cattle industry at a young age through her grandfather who raised Hereford cattle, and the 2 farms her family has owned since the 1800s. For the past 41 years, Berry has raised commercial beef cattle on 800 acres in Catoosa and Walker Counties, and her grandchildren are the seventh generation of stewards of Huntland Farms. Reflecting back on her grandfather’s cattle farm, she has photographs of the conservation methods he used in the 1930-1940s, including repairing deep gullies caused by erosion. Comparing photographs of the farm from then to how it looks now reminds her and her family to continue best management practices on the land and inspire future generations to be the best stewards possible of our land and natural resources.
As former president of the Georgia Cattlemen's Association, Betts had the opportunity to travel both state- and nation-wide to meet producers all over the U.S. and see the conservation practices others implement on their land. In 2005, Betts formed a middle school agriculture education program in Chickamauga, GA, and taught for 9 years. From 2014 through this year, she served as the Young Farmers Advisor for Walker County and through this role she has been able to expand the use of no-till drills in her area. Her career in education and with Young Farmers has allowed her to share the importance of agriculture and taking care of the land to both children and adults.
The mission of GACD is to advocate for the conservation of Georgia’s natural resources by providing organization, leadership and a unified strategic direction to the Conservation Districts of the state. For more information on GACD or to explore opportunities on how you can support our efforts, please visit us online at www.gacd.us or on Facebook @GACDConserve.
