For Altar Cross Farms, a family-run organic blueberry farm in Ivanhoe, N.C., the time was right to expand. Driven by growing demand from both national and local retailers for its organic berries, the family expanded production by 63% this year and is now harvesting from 65 certified organic acres.
“We own 40 acres of organic blueberries, but this is our first year with expanded acreage,” says Roy Sykes, owner of Altar Cross Farms. “We had the opportunity to lease 65 acres from a neighboring organic farm, which was a huge blessing. To be able to grow that much in such a short amount of time, and right when demand was picking up, just felt like the right thing falling into place at the right time.”
This season marked the most productive blueberry crop Altar Cross Farms has had in five years, says Sykes, who co-owns the farm with his wife, Donna Sykes, and operates it with their daughters.
“Several factors helped with the crop this year, like a really cold winter and no hard spring freezes,” says Sykes. “The early rain hurt some of our early varieties a bit, but it didn't put a dent in overall production. Honestly, our blueberry crop on our personal 40 acres alone would've been extremely robust with the weather we had, so with 65 acres, you can only imagine how strong the season has been.”
The farm's location in eastern North Carolina is also prime for blueberry production, says Sykes.
“One of the main reasons North Carolina, especially eastern North Carolina, is such a good place to grow blueberries is the soil,” he says. “We've got sandy, acidic soil here — exactly what blueberries like. You don't see a whole lot of blueberries grown farther west because the soil just isn't right for it. You can amend the soil and make it work, sure, but that adds cost. Then you're competing with folks who can just stick plants in the ground and let them go, while you're out there trying to fix the soil first.”
Altar Cross Farms' expansion was also bolstered by an investment in mechanical upgrades that contributed to its success this season.
“We've made a lot of upgrades to our packing line over the last couple of years that have really helped us work more efficiently,” says Morgan Sykes, Altar Cross Farms sales and packing manager and Roy Sykes' daughter. “In 2022, we invested in a color sorter that pulls out anything that's not the right shade for a ripe blueberry, which has made grading so much simpler. We also added an automatic clamshell filler and a labeler, and both have cut down a lot on the time and cost it used to take to pack and hand-label everything.”
Happy Dirt Helps Expand Network
Happy Dirt, a North Carolina-based organic produce grower and distributor, handles the majority of Altar Cross Farms' sales, helping the Sykes family bring their organic berries to a wide network of wholesale and retail partners across the Southeast.
“In 2024, we saw a noticeable uptick in demand specifically for North Carolina–grown organic blueberries, which mirrors the national trend toward increased interest in organic berries overall,” says Alex Borst, Happy Dirt purchasing manager. “You can find Happy Dirt organic blueberries, grown by Altar Cross Farms, up and down the East Coast.
“We're always working to develop new customer outlets because we know demand will continue to rise,” Borst continues. “From May through August, we're proud to meet that need with blueberries from farmer-partners like Altar Cross, especially when the crop looks as good as it does this year.”
Altar Cross Farms is planted with a diverse varietal mix, including O'Neal, Duke, Legacy, New Hanover and Powder Blue to supports a harvest window stretching from mid-May through August.
Fair Food Certification
Altar Cross Farms also recently became Fair Food Program certified. The Fair Food Program is a partnership among farmers, farmworkers and retail companies that seeks to ensure humane wages and working conditions.
“When Happy Dirt brought it up to us, it just sounded like a really good fit,” says Morgan Sykes of the program. “It's mostly just our family working here, but we have other folks who help out as well. And the whole idea behind Fair Food Certification, which is treating your workers right and making sure folks are taken care of, that's already how we do things. So, it just made sense. It felt like a natural step for us, especially as we continue to grow.”
But despite the operation's growth, Morgan Sykes says the family remains rooted in its founding values.
“We're still mostly family doing this,” she says. “We've built the infrastructure to scale but kept our values the same.”