CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- A popular Ballantyne-area farm is under fire after someone reported on social media that an employee made racially insensitive comments to a group of Charlotte-Mecklenburg school students during a field trip.

• A witness posted about a remark she heard while a school group was at Hall Farm.
• An employee told the primarily African-American group they were "not there to pick cotton."
• The employee will not be fired because she is "a trusted family friend." 

A witness wrote on social media that the farm employee told the group of mostly African-American students that they were quote "not there to pick cotton."

The farm owners are defending the employee, saying it was just a poor choice of words.

The Halls say they spoke to that employee about the incident, and also apologized weeks ago to the school over the phone. They said they offered to speak with Thomasboro Academy administrators in person, but never heard back from the school.

The woman who posted about the incident said she's still very upset.

"She said, 'You’re not here to pick cotton today. You’re not here to pick fruit. You’re here to pick pumpkins,'” said Kathy Capps. 

“We spoke to the employee and told her that that was a stupid choice of words,” said Kevin Hall, farm owner.

In a statement, Hall goes on to say: "There was absolutely no intent to be disparaging or condescending to these students. I explained to her that our guides have made the same introduction to tens of thousands of students for the past 11 years. We have not had a single incident like this in any of those thousands of field trips."

Capps says there is no instance where the words would be appropriate.

The Halls said they won't fire the employee because she's a trusted family friend.