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Rex McCall named Apple Farmer of the Year

Apple Farmer of the Year Rex McCall, of Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard, worked at his family’s stand during the Apple Festival on Friday.

By Amy McCraw, Published: August 29, 2025

Rex McCall, of Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard, made history Friday when he was named apple farmer of the year during the opening ceremony for the 79th North Carolina Apple Festival.

McCall thanked his family, friends and fellow apple farmers for nominating him when he accepted the recognition.
“I just want to thank everybody for coming up here and supporting the apple industry this weekend,” he said to the crowd gathered for the opening ceremony in front of the Historic Courthouse on Main Street in Hendersonville.
But after the ceremony when he reflected on the fact that he was now the third family member to win the award for Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard, McCall said he felt humbled and at a loss for words.
“There’s a lot of good apple farmers in Henderson County,” he said. “There’s a lot of great apple growers who received this in the past. I’m just very grateful to do what I do and be able to do it with my family.”
McCall is the 16th farmer in Henderson County to receive the United Community Apple Farmer of the Year honor.
The award was established in 2009 by United Community, forming a partnership with the apple festival to ensure that the festival focuses on, honoring and thanking farmers because they are the reason the festival exists, according to a press release from the bank. Apple farmers define Henderson County as Apple Country.
Numerous people nominated McCall to be this year’s apple farmer of the year.
"As the due date for nominations arrived, we were amazed by an influx of numerous nominations pouring in for Rex,” said Fair Nabers Waggoner, the city president of United Community. Waggoner said she was “excited to see that a group had come together to make quite an impression and impact by this collective effort, additionally, to see the results making this our first third-generation winner and our first third-time win for the same farm.”
Members of McCall’s family and friends nominated him for the honor of becoming apple farmer of the year. They described him as hardworking and dedicated to his family, the farm and the community.
“He is the go-to-guy for just about anything,” according information his children provided to United Community. “A tractor needs to be driven, Dad does it. A toilet needs to be plunged, Dad is ready. Signs, shelves and anything else needs to be installed, Dad’s already done.”
In her nomination, McCall’s wife, Danielle, said she and her husband work long hours together every day.
Having earned a degree in turfgrass management at the North Carolina State Agricultural Institute, Danielle said her husband’s background was in sod and golf courses. But he stepped up and joined the family’s apple farm when asked, she said in her written nomination.
“He's been learning from one of the best and has really come into his own. I am so grateful we have him. We would not be able to continue the tradition of farming Hillcrest Orchard without his willingness to come onboard,” Danielle said in her nomination. Her husband also took on leadership roles with The Blue Ridge Apple Growers Association and is the current president. Mcall is also on the Henderson County Cooperative Extension Advisory Board. He was also part of the team that worked to combine two winter apple schools, the Blue Ridge Apple Growers and the North Carolina Apple Growers, into one.
Others in the community who nominated McCall described him as a good man and a good ambassador for the apple farming community.
“Rex is a good and decent man,” one nomination said.
Other apple farmer of the year winners from Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard include Mike Stepp in 2019 and J.H. Stepp in 2010.