about the organic farm
Altar Cross Farms is a certified organic blueberry farm in Ivanhoe, North Carolina, operated by Roy and Donna Sykes with the help of their daughters, including Morgan Sykes (pictured above). It’s truly a family-run operation rooted in the sandy, acidic soils of Sampson County, where the Sykes family has lived since the 1700s.
Roy and Donna started the organic operation in 2013, and began their partnership with Happy Dirt in 2022. In 2024, the farm became Fair Food Certified. Since the 2024 season, the farm grew its organic blueberry production by 63 percent to meet rising demand.
You can find their organic blueberries in retailers like Whole Foods up and down the East Coast. Just look for the peach Happy Dirt Label. They are also a staple at their local farmers markets and the North Carolina Blueberry Festival!
"We’ve always liked doing things a little different, and with all the chemicals folks spray on food these days, going organic just made sense."
Why did you decide to grow organic blueberries?
Roy: When we were looking at getting into blueberries, my cousins, who have 500-600 acres of conventional berries, told me to go organic since buyers kept asking why they couldn’t get organic blueberries from North Carolina. A friend of ours, Stefan Hartman, was one of the first to go organic around here, and we learned a lot from him too. We’ve always liked doing things a little different, and with all the chemicals folks spray on food these days, going organic just made sense. So far, I’m glad we did.
It’s great that you went organic! We also know there are challenges. Can you share some challenges you face and also share why people will pay slightly more for organic produce?
Roy: Yeah, one of the biggest hurdles we’ve got is dealing with the grass and weeds. There ain’t really a way to handle it organically except with machines or by hand, and that’s tough and it’s costly. The fertilizers and inputs we use are a lot more expensive than the conventional stuff too, so it’s hard to pay all the bills and still have something left at the end of the day.
And like we were talking about earlier, getting help is tough too. You can offer folks $20 an hour to ride the back of the picker, and they still don’t even want to talk to you about it.
"I started helping my uncle when I was seven years old, and I’ve been working in this ever since."
Why do blueberries grow so well in North Carolina?
Roy: One of the main reasons North Carolina, especially eastern North Carolina, is such a good place to grow blueberries is the soil. 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.
Now, I’ve seen it done other ways—down in Georgia, they’ll grow blueberries right on top of clay using piled-up pine bark. And it works. It can be done. But it’s expensive, no doubt about it.
Do you have any fond memories growing up on your family’s land?
Roy: Oh yeah, I’ve got a lot of memories out here. I started helping my uncle when I was seven years old, and I’ve been working in this ever since. Just being down here, with the peace and the quiet, it means a lot.
Morgan, can you walk us through a day in the life on the farm here.
A day on the blueberry farm usually starts early. We check if the bushes are dry, and if they are, we start picking. We try to stop if it gets over 90 degrees, take a break for lunch, and handle any extra work we need to do. In the afternoon, we head back out and sometimes keep picking until the dew falls, which can be around 10 or 11 at night. It makes for some long days during the season.
Once the berries come in, they go through our packing line. First, they’re dumped into the blower to remove leaves, sticks, and any trash, and it helps catch some soft and green berries too. Then they go into the color sorter, which takes out reds and greens and catches a few more soft berries. After that, they move through the soft sorter, which uses sensors to bounce the berries, kicking out any that don’t bounce enough. From there, they go to our pick-out line, where we pull anything the machines missed. Then the berries drop into the hopper, which packs them into clamshells. The de-nester pops the clamshells off, moves them through to get closed and labeled, and finally, we box them up and stack them on pallets, ready to head out.
"And the whole idea behind Fair Food Certification—treating your workers right, making sure folks are taken care of—that’s already how we do things."
As a second generation, young farmer, what inspired you to stay on the farm?
Morgan: I’ve always liked working here, and I’ve always liked working with my family. It’s good to have everyone around, working together, and you get to spend time with them while you’re getting the job done, which means a lot. Some of my best memories are from working out here with my family. When I was a kid, we actually cleared all of this land ourselves. It was a lot of hard work, but those are some of the better memories you hold on to.
Why did you decide to become Fair Food Certified?
Morgan: Y’all had mentioned it to us before, and it just sounded like a really good fit. I mean, it’s mostly just our family working here. We’ve got two or three folks who help out, but beyond that, it’s us. And the whole idea behind Fair Food Certification—treating your workers right, 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.
If you’re a buyer and want to learn more about our North Carolina, organic produce availability, reach out! We’d love to hear from you. And if you’re curious and want to learn more about organic produce, farming, and our food system, sign up for Happy Dirt’s newsletter!
