Sam Bellavance Wins 2025 VBSR Young Changemaker Award: Recognition for Vermont Cannabis & Hemp Innovation

Sam Bellavance (center) accepting the 2025 VBSR Young Changemaker Award. Photo credit: Portrait Gallery.

When you grow cannabis outdoors under the Vermont sun, you quickly learn that there are no shortcuts. Building a farm-based business takes years of careful work, a willingness to experiment with new crops, and the determination to do things right — even when it's harder.

That's why we're proud to share that Sam Bellavance, founder of Sunset Lake Cannabis, Sunset Lake CBD, and Lake Effect Vermont dispensary, has been named the 2025 VBSR Young Changemaker Award recipient. Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) selected Sam for this honor, recognizing his work transforming a multi-generational dairy farm into a climate-neutral, regenerative agricultural operation that now grows sungrown Vermont cannabis, cultivates hemp for CBD, and creates living-wage jobs in the Champlain Islands.

What the VBSR Young Changemaker Award Means

The VBSR Young Changemaker Award recognizes Vermont business leaders under 40 who use their companies to drive positive change. The award celebrates entrepreneurs who "use the power of business to advance innovative solutions to society's challenges," while maximizing productivity and ensuring sustainability.

For Sam, this meant taking risks to diversify the family farm, adopting regenerative farming practices for cannabis & hemp cultivation, and building businesses that support the rural Vermont economy. The award acknowledges more than just business success — it highlights the shift happening across Vermont agriculture as farms explore cannabis, hemp, and other crops that create meaningful jobs while also protecting the land.

From Vermont Dairy Farm to Cannabis Cultivation

The Sunset Lake story begins with dairy farming. For years, the Bellavance family farm supplied milk and cream to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream through its Caring Dairy program. When hemp became legal to grow in Vermont in 2018, Sam saw an opportunity to diversify while keeping the farm viable for future generations.

Hemp cultivation led to the creation of Sunset Lake CBD, which grows hemp and produces CBD tinctures, gummies, topicals, and smokable products. When Vermont legalized adult-use cannabis in 2021, cannabis cultivation became the logical next step. In December 2023, Sunset Lake opened Lake Effect Vermont, our farm’s dispensary in South Hero offering our own sungrown cannabis flower, THC gummies, cannabis tinctures, and prerolls, while also stocking products from other small Vermont cultivators.

Today, the operation includes Sunset Lake Cannabis (our farm), Lake Effect Vermont (our retail dispensary at 6 South Street in South Hero), and Sunset Lake CBD (our farm-to-front-door hemp and CBD company). All three businesses operate from the same founding principles: regenerative farming practices, creating good jobs, and growing our community.

Sustainable Cannabis Cultivation in Vermont

We grow our cannabis outdoors in living soil under the sun and rain, reducing our need for electricity and fossil fuels compared to indoor cultivation. Our team uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM), cover cropping, and crop rotation to build healthy soil and minimize environmental impact.

We also partner with a Vermont craft brewery, using their spent brewing ingredients, and combining them with manure from the family dairy farm to fertilize our fields. This reduces our need to truck in conventional fertilizers while upcycling nutrient-rich waste-stream products.

Sunset Lake Cannabis became Vermont’s first Climate Neutral Certified cannabis farm through Change Climate, an international nonprofit working toward net-zero emissions. In 2023, we offset over 100 tonnes of carbon through reforestation projects, and we're committed to reducing our carbon footprint each year. In 2026 we will be pursuing a new certification that reflects our commitment to sustainable agriculture and producing clean cannabis products.

Supporting Vermont Communities Through Values-Driven Business

Growing cannabis and hemp in Vermont means more than just producing quality products. It means creating stable career jobs, supporting local community organizations, and contributing to the rural economy.

We provide financial support to organizations working on equal human rights, criminal justice reform, land stewardship, and emergency food relief. We believe businesses have a responsibility to strengthen the communities where they operate.

We're active members of the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont (CRAV), Vermont NORML, and Vermont Growers Association because we believe Vermont's cannabis industry should remain community-focused, fair, and sustainable.

Why This Award Matters for Vermont Cannabis

Sam's VBSR Young Changemaker Award sends an important message: cannabis businesses can operate with strong environmental and social values while succeeding financially. Vermont doesn't need to copy the corporate cannabis model from other states. We can build something better; an industry grounded in agriculture, rooted in local communities, and focused on quality over scale.

Sam believes that Vermont’s small locally-owned businesses are what give our cannabis market such a unique character.

The award also highlights how cannabis fits into Vermont's broader agricultural economy. Whether you're growing hemp for CBD, cultivating cannabis for recreational use, or producing hops for craft beer, the principles are similar: grow responsibly, pay people fairly, and build genuine relationships with your customers.

For visitors to our Lake Effect Vermont dispensary, this recognition reinforces what we've been saying all along: when you shop with us, you're buying directly from farmers who care about what they grow and how they grow it. Every purchase supports Vermont agriculture, local jobs, and a local cannabis industry that looks different – better – from anywhere else.

“This award isn't a finish line,” said Sam Bellavance after accepting the award. “It's motivation to keep improving our farming practices, fine-tuning our product offerings, and deepening our connections with Vermonters who enjoy quality cannabis.”

Looking Forward

“This award isn't a finish line,” said Sam Bellavance after accepting the award. “It's motivation to keep improving our farming practices, fine-tuning our product offerings, and deepening our connections with Vermonters who enjoy quality cannabis.”

We're currently exploring new genetics for outdoor cultivation, developing additional cannabis-infused beverages (like our recent collaboration with Hackett's Orchard on a cannabis-infused sparkling cider), and looking at ways to make our Lake Effect dispensary even more welcoming for both cannabis newcomers and experienced consumers.

If you're in the Champlain Islands or Burlington area, stop by Lake Effect Vermont at 6 South Street in South Hero. We're open seven days a week and you'll find sungrown Vermont cannabis flower, marijuana edibles, THC tinctures, CBD products, and a team that knows the plants they're selling because we grew them.

Thank You, Vermont

We're grateful to VBSR for this esteemed recognition. And we're also thankful for our customers: to everyone who has picked up a Sunset Lake Cannabis product at a Vermont weed store, or shopped at our South Hero cannabis dispensary, or those who've supported our hemp and CBD products at SunsetLakeCBD.com over the years. Your support makes this work possible. This award belongs to everyone who believes Vermont can build a thriving agricultural economy, support our workers and communities, and grow a better tomorrow together. 🌱