MOULTRIE — With what is becoming an almost annual tradition with its fifth event, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce-facilitated Job Swap was held on Thursday. Local businessmen Patrick Mobley and Steve Lazarus walked in each other’s shoes for a day.

“I think it’s important to see what goes on in the community and see how other businesses operate,” said Lazarus.

The day started out at Mobley Plant Co. Mobley said his father had been growing plants since the 1940s with another partner but since 1981, the company has been called Mobley Plant Co.

“We started right out with him the first year,” said Mobley of him and his brothers.

“I’m ready to go to work. I’m reporting to duty,” said Lazarus when he walked into the office.

Mobley responded that he was ready to have him stack boxes.

“Just remember how you treat me,” Lazarus replied back teasingly. He said he had some boxes that Mobley could stack, too.

Before Mobley gave Lazarus a tour of the property, they sat down and spoke about the greenhouse business. An employee jokingly asked Lazarus if they could get off at noon as he walked by their desk.

Mobley told him the 53 greenhouses on site produce vegetables. He also had more on a property in LaBelle, Fla., which made a grand total of 130 greenhouses owned by the company. He also explained his relationship with the farmers and the scheduling involved.

“So they know what they’re doing and you know what you’re doing,” Lazarus said.

Mobley said that his plants are in just about every state in the Southeast and one of his largest customers is in Indiana. Tomatoes, cabbage and peppers are his biggest crops. He said, in peppers, he grows everything from bell peppers and jalapenos to serrano and habaneros.

“You name it on peppers. We grow it,” he said.

Mobley said his job was to get disease-free, quality transplants to his customers.

“I won’t grow for anybody I don’t personally know,” he said.

He knows most of the produce growers in the Southeast, he added.