News

Cory Justus honored as Apple Farmer of the Year

Cory Justus, 2024 Apple Farmer of the Year, worked in the Justus Orchard booth on Friday during the N.C. Apple Festival.

By Amy B. McCraw, Associate Editor, Published: August 31, 2024

In 2019 Cory Justus faced a tough decision.

He was trying to work fulltime as a Henderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy and help out around his family’s orchard. His father, Don, had been living with ALS, and the son knew he had to make a change.
“I tried to do both jobs. I had to decide,” he said Friday during a break from working the Justus Orchard apple stand at the N.C. Apple Festival on Main Street.
A fifth generation Henderson County apple farmer, Cory decided he needed to take on the family business fulltime and make law enforcement a parttime job.
“I wanted to continue the family legacy,” he said.
The Apple Festival honored Justus during the event's opening ceremony Friday as the 2024 United Community Bank Apple Farmer of the Year.
UCB City President Fair Nabers Waggoner said in a news release that the Justuses had exemplified the spirit and will of farm families.
“As I was notified of the honoree this year and learned more of Cory’s story, I was specifically struck by the resiliency of farmers and farm families,” she said. “Taking apples and making apple juice, so to speak.”
In addition to his father’s ALS diagnosis, Justus faced the devastating loss of his wife, Brianna, to Covid in 2021. Hospitalized at 30 weeks pregnant after testing positive for the coronavirus, Brianna gave birth to the couple’s third child, a healthy baby girl, by emergency C-section. Brianna died Aug. 2, 2021, at age 31.
Justus, 35, is raising their three children, a girl and two boys, in the family farming tradition.
“They are around the orchard all the time,” he said.
Justus said he was honored to be named apple grower of the year, especially at his age.
“Even when I was growing up, not many people my age were involved in agriculture,” he said. “In previous generations it was common.”
Justus Orchard offers both we-pick and U-pick apples, a bakery, a gift shop and activities for children. This summer the orchard added a taproom with hard fruit ciders, local craft beers and local wines. The taproom has been a hit so far, Justus said.
“We’re reaching a lot of new people, local customers,” he said.
In addition to customers who stop by the taproom while visiting the orchard, the farm at 187 Garren Road in the Fruitland community has attracted  corporate gatherings, engagement celebrations and birthday parties for children.
“The adults can hang out and the kids play on all the stuff,” he said.
For more information about Justus Orchard, visit www.justusorchard.com .