EXCLUSIVE: Latino-Owned Cannabis Cultivation Facility Gets New York State License

With its successful retail, cultivation, manufacturing and distribution, ElectraLeaf has established its presence as a leader in a very crowded Oklahoma cannabis market. Now they're taking on the New York market.

The company's latest venture, Lifted New York was recently licensed by the NY state for cultivation through its partnership with Larchwood Farms, a hemp cultivator in Ithaca.

As part of its push to provide opportunities to existing New York hemp businesses as well as social equity applicants, New York has adopted a program to allow existing licensed hemp farms to convert their business into adult-use cannabis farms for cultivating plants higher in THC than hemp rules allow for.

Per New York state regulations for converting those farms to recreational cannabis growers, ElectraLeaf will begin by cultivating exotic cannabis from their genetic library of 18,000 unique strains stored at their SF Greenhouse and will utilize the surrounding land to plant an outdoor garden. The team also has plans to add indoor cultivation once New York releases the applications so they can expand into their preferred method of growing cannabis: energy-efficient indoor cultivation utilizing LED lighting and organic nutrients with sustainable, recyclable packaging for all its products.

Who Is Pedro Sotomayor?

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the U.S., ElectraLeaf CEO Pedro Sotomayor used to ride around New York as a child and teenager with his grandfather as he recounted the glory days of early and mid 1900’s New York.

“As a teenager, my abuelos' stores of New York left a lasting impression on me. As an adult, New York has always been my favorite place to spend time. So I’m beyond excited to be awarded this license and come back East and share with New York the knowledge, experience, genetics and robust product lines we’ve developed and refined,” Sotomayor told Benzinga.

In Oklahoma, ElectraLeaf currently operates a vertically integrated brand house and cannabis company. The company has been awarded 20 High Times Cannabis Cup awards for flower, rosin, vape, edibles, concentrate, pre-rolls and topicals. It was also selected in 2019 as the Oklahoma cultivation and manufacturing partner for the international cannabis brand, Cookies California.

Not only is Sotomayor the first Latino CEO and owner of a New York cannabis license, he has also been a caregiver for his disabled mother for the last 22 years.

As part of his and the company's commitment to help others breed excellence and community, Electraleaf will implement a social equity program to assist in preparing applicants for the startup and operations phase of their own cannabis businesses in New York.

“My life experiences taking care of my family gives me a broad understanding of the challenges many go through in life and my understanding and empathy of them has developed into a desire to help others," Sotomayor said. 

"That desire will manifest itself in the ElectraLeaf Social Equity Mentorship Program. We love the industry and culture of cannabis so we look forward to providing training, education, consulting and more to hand-selected social equity and minority applicants who have displayed a commitment to learning and the pursuit of excellence in New York."

With a commitment to community, culture, award-winning genetics and product lines, it seems New York cannabis will be in good hands with the team at ElectraLeaf.