The Bravo Barn and Greenhouse.
Bravo Botanicals grows hemp on a family farm in Southern Vermont. This land has been in agricultural use for over 200 years. Until about 20 years ago these three hundred acres had been a dairy farm with open fields for grazing and diverse wooded hillsides for timber harvesting.
We like to think Vermont always looks the same, but the view continually shifts. In the 1800s Vermont was about 80% cleared land dotted with small farms. Today we have about 20% cleared land! In 1902 Vermont had 33,104 farms. Fast forward to now and there are about 6,800 farms. Of those only 508 are dairy farms.
To keep our farm intact, with open fields, well managed forests, and updated infrastructure, we have made several choices in favor of land stewardship. We use our farm by:
Owner Ben James tending the crops.
- Collaborating with the neighboring organic dairy farm, who hays the fields to feed their cows, and then supplies Bravo with manure to fertilize our crops.
- Sharing our land with VAST, the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers. This land is part of their thousands of miles of groomed trails.
- Creating a long-term Vermont Land Use plan to manage the forest.
- Cultivating organically grown Hemp.
- Upgrading our 5,000 sq ft barn to create beautiful office space and clean, efficient hemp drying and pressing rooms to produce Bravo’s certified organic CBD products.
We hope to continue taking good care of our little part of Vermont, so future generations can enjoy the magnificent Green Mountain State.
—Ben James
