Hayton Farms: 5th Generation Leads Organic Future

Fir Island, located in Washington’s Skagit Valley, is well known to wildlife enthusiasts for its tidelands and intertidal marshes that host up to 180 bird species annually. This small island, hugged on the Southwest by the Puget Sound and bounded by the North and South forks of the Skagit River, is one of many remarkable communities along the Pacific Northwest coast. Inhabited by only 195 families, one of OGC’s grower-partners, the Hayton family, is one of the oldest to call this little island home.

Thomas and Sarah Hayton established Hayton Farms in 1876, and originally served the population of Seattle, providing them with grain and hay for horse feed. In the early 1900’s, James and Maude Hayton transformed the farm into a dairy. Yet again, in the 1950’s, another chapter for the farm was written when Leroy and Irene Hayton converted the land to a crop farm, largely growing peas and making pea hay. Eventually, Robert Hayton and Susan Hughes-Hayton expanded production to include berries, cauliflower, potato and cucumber crops.

Now, Angelica Hayton is the 5th generation to manage the family farm. Angelica has been integral in the farm’s sustainable future, pioneering its commitment to progressive practices for the last 12 years. Along with her parents, she is a proud steward of the land focusing on organic and transitional organic berry crops.

The Hayton family takes immense pride in their berries, and the proof is in the eating. With nearly 20 varieties of certified organic strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, there’s something delicious to satisfy the palate of every connoisseur. Including Angelica, who shares that she is “always pretty excited about everything right when it starts and it’s new for the year.” But, if she had to pick a favorite, she shares that it’s “probably the Obsidian blackberries. They’re big and sweet and early. Our crop looks really heavy this year. I am definitely excited about that.” She notes that the “Cascade Delight raspberries are also big and pretty.”

Big, pretty, and well cared for, as Hayton Farms exclusively hand picks its berries in order to ensure the integrity of the product leaving their fields. To do so, they rely on a talented and dedicated team of pickers, many of whom have been with the Haytons for over a decade, including their foreman. Some of their team, many of whom belong to the same family, cycle between Hayton Farms’ season and those in California, while others are at the farm working year-round.

“Fresh out of the fields” to the Haytons means that whenever possible, the berries that OGC purchases are picked in the morning, cooled, and loaded onto trucks that same day. Through a feat of coordinated people power, it makes for some of the best berries on the market.



In addition to the numerous certified organic berries that Hayton Farms provides to both farmers markets and at wholesale, they currently have transitional crops that OGC is looking forward to bringing to market. These up-and-coming varieties include Tayberry, Loganberry, as well as eleven other varieties of raspberries and blackberries. Available as transitional in 2020 and 2021, we look forward to their debut as certified organic berries in summer of 2022!

OGC is proud to partner with Hayton Farms. With the full swing of their berry season just around the corner, we’re sure this farm’s name and berries will become a fixture of your summer berry program!