Kenny Barnwell is here for Henderson County agriculture. Portrait by Amos Moses.
Fifth-generation apple grower Kenny Barnwell, namesake of the wholesale business Kenny Barnwell Orchard in Edneyville, made recent news for nabbing East Region Apple Grower of the Year honors, as announced by American Fruit Grower in its industry magazine. He’s also the most recent inductee into the WNC Agricultural Hall of Fame. Besides helping tend the trees that date back more than a century on both sides of his family — and that supply fruit to Gerber Baby Food, Peterson’s (the company that provides apple slices to McDonald’s), and other big-time companies — Barnwell is best known for his local agricultural activism, working to ensure that Henderson County farmlands retain their heritage purpose. He is a founding member of Agribusiness Henderson County, an org dedicated to sustaining and fostering the area’s agricultural growth and development. www.agrihc.org, www.barnwellsapplehouse.com.
Congratulations to being inducted into the WNC Agricultural Hall of Fame!!! I’m an artist here in Hendo and I must say there are some outstanding beautiful apple farms here. I to live here in the Edneyville area and my husbands uncle Kennth Maxwell worked for a plant close