Charlotte's Former Nordic Farm Has New Owners

Nordic Farm in 2021 Credit: File: James Buck

The 583-acre former dairy farm in Charlotte historically known as Nordic Farm will once again bear that name under new owners Ben Dobson and Kaspar Meier. The business partners purchased the conserved farm in early July from the family of the late Will Raap, founder of Gardener’s Supply and the Intervale Center.

Dobson and Meier have decades of organic agriculture experience between them. Dobson, 40, declined to share the purchase price, but LandVest real estate’s website lists the farm as sold for $2.2 million.

Raap bought the farm in late 2021 and renamed it Earthkeep Farmcommon. He was working on an ambitious vision that involved building a collective of profitable and environmentally sustainable agriculture-based businesses when he died unexpectedly on December 12, 2022.

Nordic Farm’s new owners have worked together on many organic and biodynamic agriculture projects, most recently in New York’s Hudson Valley, Dobson said. They have no investors and financed the purchase with savings and standard bank loans.

Also a builder, Meier owns May Hill Timber Frames. Dobson cofounded Hudson Hemp, now Hudson Cannabis, and Hudson Carbon, which studies the impact of organic farming systems on climate and the environment. He remains on the boards of both.

The pair plan to focus on grass-based systems at Nordic Farm, raising hay and providing pasture for livestock. “It’ll be good for the soils, for the biodiversity and for our water quality,” Dobson said.

Meier has moved to the Charlotte farm, while Dobson commutes several days a week from his family home in Sheffield, Mass.

Dobson said he had spoken with Raap a few times by phone, sharing his expertise in grain production. “I always admired what he did with the Intervale and Gardener’s Supply,” he said. When the farm went on the market, Dobson was interested because he sees Vermont as a state with “a clear focus on agriculture,” he said. The farm was relatively affordable, he added: “You need Wall Street money to buy a farm where I am.”

The property’s barns currently have several food and beverage producer tenants, including Sweet Sound Aquaculture, Slowfire Bakery and Foam Brewers offshoot House of Fermentology. When asked about their status at Nordic Farm, Dobson said, “We’re figuring out the future of the facility. We’re in process with tenants, sorting that out.”

Sweet Sound Aquaculture owner John Brawley said he could not comment at this time.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Former Nordic Farm in Charlotte Has New Owners”