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Our Story
Leadfarmer isn't a brand we invented in a marketing meeting. It's a call sign earned in combat, carried through transition, and built into a cannabis operation that runs the same way we ran missions—with discipline, accountability, and zero tolerance for cutting corners.
Tyler spent almost 11 years in the Marine Corps. Three deployments. His second time in Afghanistan, his team was stationed in one of the most kinetic areas of the Helmand Valley. In 164 days, they were in over 130 firefights. He was 22 years old.
The call sign "Lead Farmer" started as an inside joke—a reference to a scene in Tropic Thunder where a character crosses two guns and says the line. It stuck. Fifteen years later, his homies still call him that.
When it came time to build something real in cannabis, the name wasn't up for debate. This isn't a logo. It's crew identity.
"The cannabis industry is attractive for vets because it's challenging. It's very detail oriented. A lot of people think there's so much money in these businesses—so it attracts people who are not detail-oriented. That gives us an ability to stand out."
— Tyler, Founder
When Tyler was getting out of the military, the medical evaluations came with a prescription list that could fill a pharmacy. Every drug under the sun. He chose cannabis instead.
Veterans stick together. The Marine Corps is small—you meet another Marine, there's an immediate understanding. Tyler connected with other vets who were already in the game, working Prop 215 businesses in California as the state transitioned from medical to adult-use. Internships turned into jobs. Jobs turned into expertise.
The network wasn't just about opportunity. It was about trust. Combat vets know what real accountability looks like. When you're running a small operation where mistakes matter, that's the only kind of person you want next to you.
Phil connected through a facility advisor with Athena—the relationship started as casual conversations about gardening, not business. When Phil's license came through in February, he called Tyler the next day. "I'm on the list. Let's make something happen."
Brandon they met at a grow store. He overheard them talking about needing trimmers for their licensed indoor operation—at a time when almost nobody had an indoor license in New York. Real recognizes real.
Everyone has different roles and different expertise. But everyone's accountable to the same standard. That's how crews work.
"This property is an 800 horsepower Honda Civic. Supercharged on a budget—but without cutting any corners."
— Phil
Walk into a lot of dispensaries in New York right now and ask for their top shelf. It's disappointing. Mystery weed. Old product. Question marks everywhere.
We're trying to change that. We want product where somebody doesn't have to come in and ask to see it. Where the quality is obvious. Where consistency isn't a marketing word—it's the actual product.
Clean rooms. Process discipline. Accountability at every step. The same attention to detail that kept us alive downrange, applied to cultivation.
We're in about 40 stores right now. We've got six to nine months of back orders from over 150 stores that want to carry us. Demand is outpacing supply—but we're not going to sacrifice quality to scale faster.
Phil spent months driving to dispensaries, introducing the crew, building relationships with store owners and budtenders. That's how we grew. Not through hype, not through marketing—through showing up, being consistent, and letting the product speak.
Next up: expanding our cultivation, opening our own retail location in Bainbridge, and getting product into more hands across New York.
We're in dispensaries across New York State. Ask your shop—or check our stockist list.
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