Farmed for 270 years. Ours for ten generations.
This ground has been farmed for 270 years, and our family has been on it for ten generations. We have cut hay on these fields, calved in these barns, and sat on the same porch after the day’s work for longer than Vermont has been a state. That is not a slogan. It is where we live, where our kids are growing up, and where we intend to stay.
Vermont has the land, the cattle and the farmers. It lost the rest.
Vermont has good land, good cattle, and good farmers. What it has lost is the ability to finish and process cattle here. Most Vermont cattle leave the state to be fed out and slaughtered somewhere else, and the value leaves with them. We started with beef because that is what this farm knows, and because fixing that problem is work we can actually do from Benson.
Kingston Place is building the pieces that sit between a cow on a Vermont hillside and a steak on a Northeast table: the land and feed to finish cattle here, scheduled time at USDA-inspected plants in the region, trucking and cold storage, and the records that let a buyer know exactly where an animal came from. None of that requires us to own everything. It requires someone to coordinate it, and to commit to volume so the plants, the truckers, and the farmers can plan.
What the land program means for the valley.
You may have heard we are buying farmland, and we are. Our plan identifies about 30 properties in the Benson area, roughly 8,500 acres, to be worked parcel by parcel over several years. Here is what that means in practice.
- The land stays in agriculture. We are buying hay ground and pasture to keep it in hay and pasture. Fields that are farmed today will be farmed next year.
- We lease where we can and buy where it makes sense. Plenty of ground will stay in its current owner’s hands with us as the tenant, cutting the hay and running cattle the way it has always been done.
- Conservation is part of the plan, not a condition we tolerate. Wetland corridors, river buffers, and rotational grazing are how a farm lasts another 270 years. Some of the land we buy will carry conservation easements that keep it open permanently.
- We hire here. The first jobs are in Benson: a ranch manager, a veterinarian, an operations coordinator, and farm crew, with housing for several of them. The listings are on our Careers page.
- We buy local. Hay, fencing, trucking, equipment work, and feed come from the valley first.
The cattle. The hay. The family.
The farm you drive past is the same farm; there are just more of us working it, and the beef has somewhere to go that is not out of state.
Questions people in the valley are asking.
Are you an out-of-state company?
No. Kingston Place is a Vermont company owned by a family that has farmed in Benson for ten generations. The office is on Park Hill Road. We are raising capital from investors to grow, the same way any farm borrows to buy land, but the ownership and the decisions stay here.
Why are you buying so much land?
Finishing cattle takes feed, and feed takes ground. To keep Vermont cattle in Vermont through the finishing stage, we need enough hay and pasture to carry them. Buying and leasing land in one valley lets us run it as one farm instead of many scattered pieces.
Will the fields stay in farming?
Yes. We are buying agricultural land to farm it. Hay ground stays in hay. Pasture stays in pasture. We are not developing lots or subdividing.
I own land near you. Do you want to buy it?
Maybe, and we will tell you plainly either way. We also lease land, which keeps it in your family while we farm it. Reach out and we will talk.
Do you want to buy my cattle?
We buy finished cattle every week and we run programs for calves and feeders where you can keep ownership while we grow them. Start on the Producer Network page or just call.
Are you hiring?
Yes, in Benson, starting now. Four roles are posted on the Careers page with pay ranges and housing details.
Will there be more trucks on the road?
Some. Cattle and feed move on a schedule, and we plan routes and timing to keep it predictable. If a truck is on your road at a bad time, call us and we will fix it.
Can I buy beef from you?
Not yet directly from Kingston Place. Send a note through the Contact page and we will point you to the right place.
Who do I call?
Write to jaime@kingston-place.com or use the Contact page. You will get a person, not a form.
We would rather hear from you than have you wonder.
If you own a field we might be interested in, if you have cattle to sell, if you want to know what a truck was doing on your road, or if you just want to meet us, we would rather hear from you directly than have you wonder. Call or write, and you will reach a person who lives here.