Welcome To Our Farm

Sunset Berry Farm is located on top of Flat Mountain just outside of Alderson, West Virginia and has a 30 acre fenced "deer free" production area. Sunset Berry Farm was established in 2010 by Kent and Jennifer Gilkerson to supplement Farmer Kent's income from his "real" job at Alderson Federal Prison. We are known for growing award winning strawberries and also offer agritourism by way of festivals and "pick your own" strawberries, sunflowers and peaches. We grow 50,000 strawberry plants, yielding 1 pound each, when Mother Nature cooperates. To expand fruit offerings, Farmer Kent added 100 peach trees, 15 pear trees and 4 apple trees, 2 cherry trees and a watermelon field in 2022. We also grows tomatoes, green peppers and cantaloupe in high tunnels. Farmer Kent is considered a leader among strawberry growers in the state and provides mentorship for new farmers.

Sunset Berry Farm hosts "Alderson Strawberry Festival" in partnership with the Town of Alderson & Alderson Main Street, which is always on the Saturday before Memorial Day. In 2021 we began growing sunflowers in response to the failure of our strawberry crop due to a freeze event. That project has blossomed into "West Virginia Sunflower Festival, complete with a pageant directed by Amanda Bowden Wheeler. West Virginia Sunflower Festival takes place in September on Labor Day weekend, along with the "Monroe County Peach Festival" and "West Virginia Watermelon Festival". We have a "fun zone" for children that is open during festivals and includes the largest outdoor bounce pad in the state, axe throwing, tractor pulled rides, a scavenger hunt in the fairy forest and more.

The farm has been awarded a SARE grant to research optimal planting dates for strawberries in West Virginia. In 2023, the farm was awarded a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant to explore the use of freeze-dried technology to generate a "viable" year round source of income for food producers. The project was supported further with the award of a $100,000 USDA grant in 2024 to enable farmers to access the massive Farm to School market. Also in 2024, West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition cost shared with the farm in the purchase of a green bean harvester, which will allow Farmer Kent to grow the Appalachian staple food on a large scale with the goal of offering them to the community at a very affordable price. Sunset Berry Farm has been awarded two USDA Value Added Producer Grants to expand our market to 5 new locations and develop new products by using seconds to make jam, syrup and chocolate dipped strawberries. In 2025, Sunset Berry Farm will be among the first farms in the nation to participate in the Farm Labor Stabilization Pilot program to support economic recovery, safeguard domestic food supply by addressing current labor shortages in agriculture, reduce irregular migration from Northern Central America through the expansion of regular pathways; and improve working conditions for all farmworkers.