Wellsville NY investment in agriculture is growing the economy with high-quality cannabis
Luis Delgado’s gamble is paying off, and he’s just getting started
By Andrew Harris
I’ve made my second pilgrimage to Casa Verde Farms in the rolling hills of Wellsville NY, not far from the Sun’s headquarters along the Wellsville-Andover town line. The first visit in 2024 was impressive, from the products to the people employed at the farm. Casa Verde had announced their premium brand “Florette,” and was a pioneer in the legal NYS cannabis market with big plans.
In the two years since I last took a tour with Head of Cultivation, “Vinnie” Samolis, this farm has grown by multiples, leaps and bounds, great strides and massive investments. It is important to note that I’m not talking about 100% or 200% growth, this tour reveals more than a 1000% increase, ten times what I saw in 2024. This is now one of the biggest businesses and employers in Allegany County NY.
From CasaVerde.com:
“Our name means “green home,” and for us, it’s just that. A family-owned and family-run company, Casa Verde was born and bred in the Empire State. The best and brightest in genetics, cultivation, and extraction come together here, harnessing generations of knowledge to nurture each plant with intention.
As a fully vertically integrated company, we grow everything we sell, ensuring our product are crafted with care, precision, and the highest standards of quality. Our diverse and ever-expanding portfolio of proprietary brands caters to a wide range of consumers, from seasoned connoisseurs to those just beginning their journey.
This is about more than just cannabis; it’s about cultivating a culture. We’re here to help build a flourishing, trustworthy, and compliant industry that reflects the values of the community it serves. Born in New York, for New York. This is only the beginning”
The facility itself is more than ten times larger, along with the production levels, and employment has grown from a dozen full time jobs to almost eighty jobs. Casa Verde has really grown up and the Chairman of the Farm, Luis Delgado is very proud of what his team, and the community have built to-date.
Pictured is Luis with daughter Bri, who has become a big part of the Casa Verde farm team.
Delgado, is a lifelong entrepreneur, an attorney, and cannabis afficionado who uses the word community a lot. He marvels at the community of tradesmen, the local suppliers, the energy network, and neighbors that made building this farm possible.
“I don’t know that this would have been possible without the expertise of Tim Shea’s; Liam did some amazing work. The professionals at Robert’s Electric and Ludden Septic went above and beyond to work with the complexities of a buildout like this. Doug Reed has been a real hero as an experienced project manager that coordinated many moving parts. We’ve built great relationships that we expect will continue for many years to come.”
Delgado’s vision hasn’t been an easy road. The brand-new NYS legal cannabis market has been fraught with challenges that have delayed the success Casa Verde is finally realizing. Surprisingly, all this investment and job creation has come with no tax breaks- Not only is Casa Verde paying sales and excise taxes, they pay the same property tax rate as any farm.
Snapshot of Casa Verde in early October 2026
Delgado, Samolis and the Casa Verde team spent hours showing me the cannabis farm of my dreams.
The build out since I’ve last visited isn’t just impressive in scale and scope, the details and technology involved are mindboggling. I would dare say that this is the most high-tech agricultural operation in Allegany County history, maybe even Western New York history. Casa Verde is built for efficiency, using the most state-of-the-art equipment and processes available.
Currently fourteen greenhouses utilize both natural and indoor lighting, designed to grow 420 plants each. Every plant inside the greenhouse has a digital profile, is connected to an integrated water system, and is grown inside an organic shredded coconut substrate. The root system is about the size of a volleyball and the plants grow to be about six feet tall on average. All water has the appropriate organic nutrients and is delivered to the plants using an automated irrigation system. In the center of the farm are three 6500-gallon tanks working in synchronization with the concentrated nutrient tanks that mix water and nutrients to be delivered to plants, depending on the plants size and maturity. Air censors, thermostats, humidity gauges, live water analysis, and other data collection are integrated into every aspect of growing this crop.
The facility has multiple dedicated drying rooms, curing rooms, trimming rooms, and packaging areas that all play a role in the production process. Because Casa Verde harvests a large crop of cannabis every week, it is a continuous process, or as Delgado refers, “a delicate dance.”
Everything is connected and can be managed with an app on a cell phone. Team members can monitor everything from the soil temperature for plant 345SD1996b to the sales data on a new product launched in select dispensaries.
Total Quality Management Team
Casa Verde has one real goal: To grow the highest quality whole flower cannabis possible. Delgado and his team are firm believers that in order to achieve that goal, quality has to permeate the operation. They use the highest quality organic inputs possible, they invested in the best equipment and cutting-edge technology, the facility is immaculate, state-of-the-art throughout. This farm offers quality employment to an ever-growing number, currently at seventy-nine team members, from entry level to skilled scientists.
Delgado has assembled a dream team of industry power players to execute on his plan to become a major player in the cannabis world. While Head of Cultivation “Vinnie Samolis is doing the actual work of growing high-quality flowers, two other roles are just as essential.
Jesus Lopes is the Director of Operations, bringing experience from his work with major industry players and connections with some of the world’s leading cultivators. Lopes’ work at Casa Verde reflects his reputation for quality and innovation as the market, and the technologies at play continue to expand. Lopes shares a vision with Delgado: To make Casa Verde the premier cannabis brand in the New York market, and eventually in the nation.
While Vinnie focuses on plant growth and Jesus drives the business, Director of Logistics Gabriel Garret keeps the trains running on time. As Casa Verde has expanded, the “dance” become more complicated, more moving parts, and synchronization is essential. The art of logistics is paramount with a farm that has this many variables and Gabe’s role is akin to the conductor of the orchestra. He not only brings experience in the industry but from his service in the U.S Army in logistics. Garret has the big picture experience to grow Casa Verde to the next level.
Casa Verde is achieving at a very high level. The flower that is being produced is organic, clean, and doesn’t require any remediation to pass NYS testing standards. “We rented a remediation machine, but we returned it because we don’t need it,” explained Delgado. Many growers remediate their products to remove mold, mildew, yeast, and bacteria in order to pass state compliance tests. Microwaves, heat, UV light, Xray, and other treatments are commonplace in the legal cannabis market according to Delgado. He explains that his farm is the exception:
“You’ll never buy cannabis from us that we’ve had to microwave or remediate in order to remove impurities. We don’t need to because we have controls in place to avoid contamination in the first place.”
At this point all the premium flower Casa Verde grows is sold in advance, with sales split fairly equally between upstate and downstate. The Florette brand is very popular in higher end dispensaries as a premium product in a market full of mediocre options. The result of this total quality approach is a sold-out crop and a growing base of loyal customers. Remember Casa Verde harvests over four hundred plants per week, so you can always find their latest products in dispensaries all over New York, just look for Florette or Cheevo brand names.
Cannabis genetics, bringing back the Legends
Since they began, Casa Verde has been on the forefront of cannabis genetics, growing new strains but never forgetting the classics. The spectrum of cannabis varieties is vast, and growing by the day. Fun names Golden Apple, Glitter Bomb, and Blueberry Marker tempt the trendy but Casa Verde is betting on the legendary strains from the past.
Children of the 1990’s will remember varieties like Purple Haze, Acapulco Gold, Sour Diesel, and Northern Lights. During prohibition, finding these strains was very difficult and when one was successful, the flavor and experience was unforgettable. Casa Verde has embraced the old adage, “Everything old is new again,” and launched a product line dedicated to the “Legends” of cannabis.
I was fortunate to try a pre-roll of Purple Haze, a sativa strain that I’ve never forgotten since being introduced in about 1998. The team behind Florette did an amazing job with this all-flower doobie. Not only was this unbelievably smooth, even creamy to smoke, it brought back great memories and made for a very happy rest of the day!
Built to Last
Looking at Casa Verde’s business model and facility in person tells me that this farm will be a long-term prospect. In the nascent cannabis market, business failure is common, mostly due to forces beyond control.
Before I visited the farm, one of my main questions was how this year round operation was dealing with utility costs ? Cannabis requires lots of lights, fans, ventilation, and temperature regulation. If my household bill was out of control, utilities had to be killing them.
Wrong. Delgado made energy independence an early goal for Casa Verde, which sits nearby some of the largest natural gas wells in Allegany County. In partnership with local energy contractors a pipeline has been run directly into the farm which powers two massive natural gas generators. That energy infrastructure provides Casa Verde insurance against the unstable grid. “We can’t afford to have the lights go out during a three-day storm,” Delgado pointed out.
The future is bright green!!
Casa Verde’s massive expansion isn’t over. Delgado reports that if all goes according to plan, the farm is set build another fourteen greenhouses, effectively doubling their “canopy,” from just under 6000 plants too over 11000 plants. That would put twenty-eight greenhouses in operation, each a capacity of 420 plants, plus dedicated indoor grow spaces for special projects. This expansion is expected to be completed in 2028 and will position Casa Verde as on one largest cannabis farms in New York.
That doubling will be one of the largest number of jobs created in Allegany County in years, maybe decades, putting Casa Verde at about 200 employees. This employment boom would be the first net growth in the local agriculture market in many years, maybe decades. If you doubted the economic power of cannabis, this is what advocates have promised – jobs and tax revenue.
Beyond economics, Delgado and his team want to be a great neighbor and part of the community. They don’t just want to be a good employer; they want to become a landmark business that employees and the community can be proud of.
Locally you can purchase Casa Verde products, under the Florette or Cheevo brands at Allegany County’s only legal cannabis dispensary, Southern Tier Cannabis in Alfred NY!
Learn more about Casa Verde Farms Florette and Cheevo brands:
Work for Casa Verde !! Email for opportunities anytime, bri@casaverdefarms.com
Read our previous reporting from 2024 when Casa Verde launched Florette below:
