Branon Family Maple Orchards

A sixth-generation family maple operation based in Fairfield, Vermont, in the Green Mountains, producing certified organic pure Vermont maple syrup and a line of maple-based specialty foods. The farm is headed by Tom and Cecile Branon, who hand-tap roughly 90,000 maple trees each season with the help of family, friends and employees. Production is single-sourced: the company tracks precisely where its sap originates and keeps a retained sample from every batch for quality control and traceability. Organic certification was obtained in 2003 through the Vermont Organic Farmers, and certification is also held with the U.S. Department of Agriculture via the Northeast Organic Farming Association, under a stringent forest-management plan intended to keep the sugarbush ecologically biodiverse. The organic line has since expanded beyond syrup to include maple cream, maple sugar, maple vinegar, maple candy and maple jelly, all of which are made on site. The retail store also carries maple barbecue sauce, seasonings, candies and other gourmet maple creations, some named for the sixth generation of the family. Sap handling has evolved from metal buckets and work horses to a network of vacuum tubing and reverse-osmosis concentration. A new sugarhouse of more than 10,000 square feet was built beginning in 2014; it houses two 6-by-16 oil-fired evaporators and three eight-membrane reverse-osmosis machines that raise sap sugar content before boiling. Eighteen solar tracker panels were installed in 2013 to generate grid electricity for the operation. Land conservation is a long-standing part of the business: the family has been a member of the Vermont Land Trust since 1997, conserved its Fairfield land, and in 2016 purchased and conserved just over 2,000 acres of the Cold Hollow Mountain range in Bakersfield from the Vermont Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy, bringing more than half of its 4,800 acres of maple forest under conservation. The sugarbush is certified a Bird Friendly Habitat by the Vermont Audubon Society, and the operation maintains a farm-management plan with the State of Vermont. In 2020 the company introduced Maple to Go!, a TSA-compliant reclosable pouch for organic maple syrup aimed at travelers and outdoor use. The sugarhouse is opened to the public for tours and for field trips for elementary, middle and high school students, and the company works with the Vocational Forestry Group from Cold Hollow Career Center during the boiling season as an educational site. Products are sold direct through the on-farm store and by mail order.