Parrish growers Alan and Leslie Jones win national award

American Vegetable Grower magazine recently presented its Grower Achievement Award to Alan and Leslie Jones, owners of Parrish-based Jones Potato Farm.

The national award is given annually to an operation that exemplifies the best of the national growing community.

It’s the second major award the couple have received for their environmental stewardship in the past year. Last November, they received the Florida Ag Commissioner’s Agricultural-Environmental Leadership Award award for best practices with water, soil, fertilization and nutrient management.

The new award cites Jones Potato Farm’s one million gallon per day savings of water use during the growing season, through the recruitment of peers and experts to solve problems, and supporting its local community.

“How can we be part of the solution of finding a more sustainable way of farming?” the Joneses ask themselves.

Working with like-minded partners, the Joneses have tried different ways to reduce water use, limit run off, and share the results with fellow growers and community.

Jones Potato Farm also works to support their community through several program, including the farm-to-school movement, supplying homeless shelters with fresh produce during harvest season, and sending what Leslie Jones calls a farmer’s-market-within-a-truck to food desert communities — neighborhoods where fresh produce isn’t easily available.

“Many farms across the country use the individual farming methods Jones Potato Farm has adopted. What sets the farm apart is the Jones’ drive to recruit others in finding common-sense sustainable answers,” said Carol Miller, editor, American Vegetable Grower. “Practices that could improve one farm and one local community are instead improving an industry.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Parrish growers Alan and Leslie Jones win national award."