History of Randle Farms

The original 35 acre farm was purchased in September of 1975 and has been added to over the years, first by a 16 acre growing parcel in the early 1980's and then by 160 acreas in the mid 1990's.

The soils on the farm are upper coastal plain, hilly to gently rolling deep sands, with abundant ground water and low organic matter. Over the years we have added thousands of tons of organic matter to our growing areas, which comprise about 20 acres of the 210 acres on the farm. This has greatly increased productivity and reduced our dependence on purchased inputs into the farm.

Mr. Frank and Mrs. Pat planted the first acre of blueberries in 1976 while working on a project with Dr. Booker T. Whatley from Tuskegee University. This lead to the approximate 10 acres we currently have in blueberry production, as well as plantings of muscadine grapes, blackberries, and other small fruits. We experimented with many crops, cropping systems, cultural practices, and have arrived where we are today: still experimenting.

Sheep, rabbits, chickens, dairy cattle, beef cattle, and pigs have been added over the years to harvest the grasses that grow abundantly, to move nutrients on the farm, and to manage crop residues. The current practices that we employ to utilize our resources and increase our soil organic matter include management intensive grazing, lots of cover crops, winter annual legumes, drip irrigation on all fruit and vegetable crops, compost, deep straw mulches, crop rotations, trap crops for pest control, etc. It is a very complicated system that is a wonder-filled challenge, which is exactly what makes a farm and a farmer be so alive.