Zenbarn Farms expands by buying cannabis dispenaries, cultivation & manufacturing facilities
December 8, 2023 | By Sandy Yusen | Correspondent 
Zenbarn Farms co-owners Noah Fishman and Marlena Tucker-Fishman in one of two greenhouses in the new cultivation facility acquired from Curaleaf. Photo by Gordon Miller
Noah Fishman and Marlena Tucker-Fishman, co-owners of Zenbarn Farms, a cannabis company in Waterbury, hope that Waterbury may soon be as well known for its cannabis as it is for its craft beer.
The couple has taken a step towards that vision in signing an agreement to purchase the Vermont assets of Curaleaf Holdings Inc., an international cannabis company based in New York City. Included in the acquisition is Vermont Patients Alliance (VPA), a medical and recreational Cannabis dispensary in Montpelier; Phytocare Vermont, a medical dispensary in Bennington; and a cultivation and manufacturing facility in Middlesex.
The move brings together some of Vermont’s longest-standing cannabis ventures. Zenbarn opened in 2016, becoming the first restaurant in Vermont to serve CBD-infused food and beverages and host cannabis-themed events. Zenbarn Farms began in 2020 with a line of CBD products using hemp grown on the Fishman’s family farm in Waterbury. In October 2022, Zenbarn Farms became Waterbury’s first licensed cannabis retailer.
As for the new acquisitions, Montpelier-based VPA was the first medical cannabis dispensary in Vermont in 2013, and Phytocare Vermont opened in 2018 as the first medical dispensary in southwestern Vermont.
In an interview last week, Fishman and Tucker-Fishman explained that they are working through the details of the final closing process before taking full ownership of the new ventures. One key step requires a change in Zenbarn Farms’ licensing from a retail license, which covers the sale of recreational or “adult-use” cannabis, to an integrated license, which covers cultivation, wholesale, manufacturing, retail, and testing. State regulations limit operators with integrated licenses to one recreational retail dispensary. As a result, Zenbarn Farms will concentrate its recreational cannabis sales at its existing retail space on Route 100 in Waterbury Center. VPA in Montpelier, which sold both medical and recreational cannabis, will now focus solely on medical-cannabis sales. Phytocare in Bennington will also continue to operate as a medical dispensary.
Indoor cultivation. Photo by Gordon Miller
Expanding growing & manufacturing operations
Zenbarn Farms is also assuming operations of Curaleaf’s Middlesex growing and manufacturing facility with the aim, as cited in a press release, “to produce premium-quality cannabis using organic, sustainable, and regenerative agricultural practices.” The facility includes 7,000 square feet for indoor cultivation. An additional 3,000 square feet in a nearby building houses staff, storage, and lab and manufacturing areas for processing the cannabis into finished products.
Fishman describes the transition as a learning process to determine how to enhance Zenbarn Farms’ existing offerings and expertise. “We’re going to grow the very best quality cannabis we can here and then we’re going to turn that into a full suite of products that are designed around our customers and specific wants from medicinal grade product to things that help people feel they want to feel in different ways,” he said.
Closeup of the growing operation. Photo by Gordon Miller
The growing facility resembles a larger and significantly more high-tech version of a backyard garden. “It’s like your organic garden at home. We’re growing in soil, cover cropping, amending with compost,” Fishman explained. “It’s a very natural grow method.”
Two greenhouses store a few hundred cloth containers filled with rich soil, arranged in neat rows, and snaked through with irrigation tubes, ready for sowing new plants. Computerized systems regulate watering, light, temperature and humidity in the facility, combining outdoor light with supplemental artificial lighting that mimics natural sunlight. A solar array in the field adjacent to the facility generates power to offset electricity use.
Vermont Compost Company provides compost for the plants, which Fishman describes as critical to the product quality. Having worked at a composting facility in Hardwick, he said he appreciates this closed-loop system. “It’s kind of cool to me to think that all of our food scraps and what we think of as waste is actually turned into beautiful compost that can create beautiful cannabis and that way it’s a community-grown product,” he said.
An evolving cannabis-business landscape
The sale of Curaleaf assets to Zenbarn Farms marks an unusual reversal of the pattern of industry consolidation by big business, whether in cannabis or other industries. This has opened new territory for the Zenbarn Farms owners in working with the state to navigate the complexities of transferring licenses and overcoming regulatory hurdles. “This was a little bit complicated because this is unprecedented,” Fishman describes. “The state hasn’t dealt with this before. It’s not every day that a big public company like Curaleaf just sells off to a little mom-and-pop shop.”
Curaleaf did not respond to comment for this story.
James Pepper, chair of the Vermont Cannabis Control Board, said that having the Curaleaf assets revert to Vermonters is an “exciting direction” for the business to take. “One of our goals as a board was to not be attractive to out-of-state operators. We’ve structured the market to be accessible to small independent operators. Having a Vermont company with a dedicated commitment to social equity, and real commitment to medical patients, is a benefit to Vermonters,” he said in an interview this week.
VTDigger reported in February on speculation about alleged investments in Curaleaf by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, a subject of international sanctions. According to Pepper, the Vermont Cannabis Control Board canvassed counterparts in other states where Curaleaf operates, but investigations did not uncover any violations of ownership disclosure requirements.
Fishman also downplayed the reports, commenting, “I have no idea about how they do their thing at the corporate level at Curaleaf. They were great to work with…they did want to see this get into the right hands and wanted it to be a win for the state.”
Vermont is one of many states that Curaleaf, a publicly traded company, has exited or reduced presence in, according to the company’s latest earnings call in November. Fishman speculated that the Vermont operations didn’t fit Curaleaf’s model and scale. “The operator in Vermont really needs to understand the Vermont community and culture,” he offered.
Cannabis plants in an indoor growing room at the newly acquired cultivation facility in Middlesex. Photo by Gordon Miller
Fishman cites some of the challenges that cannabis businesses face here in Vermont and in other states including burdensome regulations, limited access to financing, and other policies limiting business growth. “Cannabis has always been this countercultural movement – it still is,” he said. “So on the policy side, we still are dealing with major issues that are stemming from people that don’t understand it and they’re pushing for policies that are holding us back. A lot of changes need to happen to make this sustainable.”
Vermont also poses its own unique challenges for businesses with its small market size, housing and staffing issues, and inclement weather. Fishman calls Vermont a “rugged kind of place,” saying, “You’ve got to be willing to work in Vermont harder than anywhere else.”
VTDigger's report on the Zenbarn Farms/Curaleaf purchase highlighted difficulties in the medical cannabis landscape as recreational dispensaries expand statewide. Pepper said he sees this as “a very real problem,” citing declines in patient registries from approximately 5,600 patients in 2018 down to 3,200 patients across the state currently. “It’s economically not viable to be a medical dispensary,” Pepper said.
Fishman and Pepper share concerns that a weakened medical cannabis landscape poses a disservice to patients who use cannabis for serious health issues and benefit from the support that medical dispensaries provide. But Pepper is confident in Zenbarn Farms’ demonstrated commitment to its medical cannabis customers.
Fishman agreed. “That’s something we’re really passionate about. We want to help – it just needs a process with some policy changes and structural changes to make that work.”
Despite the headwinds for cannabis businesses, Fishman is optimistic that Vermont can be a leader in overcoming challenges other states have faced. “If you look at other states, they are going through some real challenging times in the industry. There’s a lot of folks going out of business; there’s a lot of struggle trying to keep this industry alive,” he said. “So we want to create a model. We think Vermont can be a place [that] does this right.”
He commends the accessibility of decision-makers, including the legislature and the Vermont Cannabis Control Board, and their willingness to work collaboratively to make the industry work in Vermont.
Photos by Gordon Miller (click to enlarge and see captions)
Creating a cannabis community
Marlena Tucker-Fishman helped launch the Cannabis Generation Equity Fund. Photo by Gordon Miller
Fishman and Tucker-Fishman bring to Zenbarn Farms their collective experience in education and community and workforce development, as well as a passion for social justice and sustainability that they say is central to their mission. Committed to sharing their expertise with others entering the field, they said they envision creating a cannabis campus based at the new Middlesex facility to foster industry learning and collaboration. They hope the campus will serve as a cannabis community hub, with a workforce development program and a business incubator to support the growth of cannabis brands in Vermont and beyond.
In particular, the campus could create opportunities for underrepresented groups in the cannabis industry, including BIPOC, women, people with disabilities, those reentering society from correctional facilities, and those who have been disproportionately targeted by cannabis enforcement.
This has been an ongoing area of focus for Zenbarn Farms. In 2021, Tucker-Fishman helped found the Cannabis Generation Equity Fund along with the Richmond Vermont-based Pennywise Foundation to support BIPOC cannabis entrepreneurs. “Cannabis Generation is our nonprofit arm that’s going to be bringing people we hope from all around the country to come and learn, intern, and develop skills and see what real sustainable craft growing is like,” Fishman said.
As the industry grows in Vermont and legalization takes hold in more states across the country, Fishman said he sees potential for expanded career opportunities. “I think with cannabis, this can be a huge opportunity for people to come in and learn the fundamentals of growing, fundamentals of processing, trimming. There’s good jobs for people also that have disabilities or other impediments to employment,” he said.
In addition to cultivation and manufacturing, he said he also anticipates career opportunities and internships in retail.
Tucker-Fishman adds that a cannabis campus can attract new entrepreneurs to the industry, and to Vermont specifically. “They can either stay here and create their own business, or go back and know how to do it well and in a sustainable way elsewhere,” she said. “Hopefully the representation from all different walks of life helps more people enter [the cannabis industry] and have less challenges to do so.”
Vinnie Zachary at work in the lab. Photo by Gordon Miller
With the new acquisitions, Zenbarn Farms now employs 16 workers and anticipates additional growth. The company is currently hiring and is “looking for good people, particularly with cultivation and potentially manufacturing and product development,” Fishman said.
An expanded cannabis industry can help retain talent in Vermont rather than exporting knowledge out of state, Fishman noted. One example is Vinnie Zachary, a new Zenbarn Farms employee overseeing the new Middlesex lab space. He returned to work in Vermont after serving as a consultant for cannabis companies across the country.
Economic opportunity for Waterbury
Fishman credits the growth of cannabis businesses in Waterbury for contributing to the town’s economic development. “I personally want to see Waterbury become a world-class destination for cannabis,” he said.
Karen Nevin, executive director of Revitalizing Waterbury, shares Fishman’s optimism. “Noah and Marlena are hardworking and visionary business people in the Waterbury community,” Nevin said. “Their purchase of Curaleaf [assets] is a wonderful next step for their cannabis business as well as the economic vitality of the entire Central Vermont region.”
Nevin added that Waterbury’s central location has attracted entrepreneurs in craft beer, recreation, safe firearms training, and now cannabis. “The town will benefit with increased job opportunities and visitors far into the future. Noah and Marlena are exactly the people to make all of this happen,” she said.
Fishman, along with his brother Ari, grew up in Waterbury and Fishman and Fishman-Tucker moved back 15 years ago to raise their family here. Building community has been central to the Fishmans since the brothers opened the original Zenbarn as a restaurant, event, music, and wellness space in Waterbury in 2016. “Our intent has always been for longevity through the things that we think feed the soul, and that is community, good food, your daily practices, and cannabis,” Tucker-Fishman explained.
Fishman describes Zenbarn as their “spiritual home” providing the community connection that helps to drive inspiration. “We wouldn’t be here today doing any of this if it weren’t for all of the support we’ve gotten at Zenbarn,” he said. “The love of the community has been overwhelming.”
This ethos now extends to Zenbarn Farms’ newest ventures. “We want to make this a great place to live and work and create opportunity – that’s what we’re all about,” he said.
Sandy Yusen is a freelance writer and Waterbury resident.