Fresh approach: For a new generation of a famous Tar Heel retailing family, growing organic produce has replaced selling the latest fashions.

• Author: Mildenberg, David

Forty-five miles south of downtown Charlotte, the same family that filled generations of North Carolinians' closets with garments is slowly working its way into Tar Heel kitchens, one head of broccoli at a time. From late April through late summer, the Belks' Wild Hope Farm delivers a couple hundred containers filled with organic vegetables to customers weekly, while selling similar produce at the Matthews farmers market.

The business is about healthy food, nutrition, restoring the quality of soil and other positive karma. It's hard to come away from a visit to an organic farm without feeling a tad more enlightened. But the Belks didn't become the Belks without knowing how to build a business or, equally important, when to sell. In December 2015, New York private equity group Sycamore Partners paid $3 billion for the Charlotte-based chain of 296 department stores in 16 states, ending a legendary history for an iconic N.C. family business.

The farm's "connector," Katherine Belk, 28, never worked full time for the company started by her great-grandfather William Henry Belk in Monroe in 1888. But in her third summer overseeing the farm, she's displaying the work ethic and messaging of a veteran entrepreneur. "We want to be financially sustainable, environmentally sustainable and socially sustainable," she says. "A lot of farms our size might be relying on migrant workers that they house and pay a very little amount. But we want to pay a living wage and build a model for a form that is going to be around for decades, not something you do for three years, burn out the land and move on."

Katherine and her family want their farm to help expand the local food movement in the Charlotte area, which is catching up with more entrenched systems in the Triangle and Asheville. The goal is to promote healthier diets and lifestyles and a renewed respect for land. The effort syncs with a decade-old campaign by North Carolina's state agriculture department, universities and others to encourage that at least 10% of the state's food consumption comes from local farms.

Interest by consumers to buy more food from local growers is clearly blossoming with a big kick from the Coronavirus pandemic, says Nancy Creamer, an N.C. State University professor and director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. "Demand for local foods is growing, and there is a need to continue developing programming and resources for this industry," she says.

If the Belks have their way, the 10% target will be surpassed.

Katherine was working at a product-design company in Boston in 2016 when her parents, Tim and Sarah, told her about their plans to create an organic farm on part of the 200 acres they'd bought in 1996. The Rodman area of rural Chester County has a picturesque feel that is hardly a second-home hot spot, but the Belks liked its close proximity to Charlotte. Tim stepped down as CEO of Belk in July 2016 after holding the post for 12 years. A company employee since 1981, he had succeeded his uncle, former Charlotte Mayor John Belk, who was CEO for 50 years. Tim's father, Tom, was president and led merchandising at the department store chain until his sudden death at age 71 in 1997.

Katherine attended boarding school in Delaware and, like her father and three of her four siblings, Williams College in Massachusetts. She studied business and art at the highly ranked private college, graduated in 2013 and then headed 140 miles west to...