Vermont hemp producer buys grain and feed mill for processing

A hemp company has purchased a 131-year-old grain mill in Vermont, aiming to develop the business into an industrial hemp processing facility.

Zion Growers finalized the deal last week, purchasing the E.T. & H.K. Ide property in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, from the Ide family, who ran a grain and feed business there for several generations.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Zion Growers is owned and operated by cousins CEO Brandon McFarlane and COO Travis Samuels, who are looking to buy a second location – the former Vermont Marble Company facility – in Proctor, Vermont to process hemp for hurd beginning this fall.

The 80,000-square-foot building, currently owned by the Preservation Trust of Vermont, would be used for storing and processing hemp bales, according to WCAX in Burlington, but would also maintain the building’s marble museum and other tenants.

Vermont currently has 440 hemp growers and processors registered to produce hemp but only six are producing hemp for grain and fiber, according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets.