SI with Karla Thompson
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SMART IRRIGATION MONTH!
Join us as we highlight Karla Thompson of JET Farms Georgia. Karla is a peanut, fruit, and vegetable farmer living in Georgia. She is a member of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation Peanut Leadership Academy Class XII and the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership Class of 2019. She is 2nd Vice President of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. Karla is not only a leader within the agriculture community here in Georgia, but she also is passionate about sharing agriculture with others across the state and country. This Smart Irrigation Month, Karla hosted a farm tour for the 2023 class of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership as they learned about natural resource concerns in southwest Georgia. Hear more from Karla and why Smart Irrigation is important on their family farm and in her community outreach work below:
“I moved to Southwest Georgia about seven years ago to help my husband, Aaron, manage his family’s farms in Southwest Georgia and South Florida. Here at JET Farms Georgia, we grow peanuts, sweet corn, green beans, and blueberries.
Our company’s founder and President, Joe Thompson, has always been an early adopter of new technology, and we use smart irrigation throughout our operation. The technology is important to the efficiency of our organization in numerous ways, including avoiding water waste, saving money, and maximizing time.
As someone who did not grow up in an agricultural community, I realize that a lot of people have misconceptions about farming practices. I had them myself. When we take the time to let people in, they see how much research and care goes into our decisions. With smart irrigation in particular, we have the opportunity to show our fellow Georgians how hard we try to be good stewards of our shared resources.”