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Brandon Boyd of TBG Hemp: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business

Find a good mentor that is already successful in the industry. Sometimes, people are scared to ask for help, but relationships in the industry are important. You never know when you will need a favor, so never burn a bridge.

As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandon Boyd, president of TBG Hemp.

An agricultural farmer for more than 20 years and an educator in cannabis, Brandon Boyd founded TBG Hemp in 2019. TBG Hemp is a cultivator of boutique hemp flower, biomass and fiber, operating outdoors and in greenhouses. With a thorough understanding of the growing process, including genetics, methodology and growing conditions, the TBG Hemp team operates under full transparency and invites customers to witness the process firsthand.

TBG Hemp specializes in high-quality smokable flower that is grown in its greenhouses throughout Florida and New York, producing consistent and quality results. From seed to harvest, TBG Hemp provides a fresh supply of product year-round from a number of boutique genetics, including its popular Bubba Kush 59 from Zoe Therapeutics.

Through TBG Hemp, Boyd remains committed to education, conducting regular, onsite visits with fellow growers, law enforcement officials, and others seeking to fully understand both the science and legality behind cannabis farming and the products produced. A fifth-generation horticulturist, he grew up around foliage plants and palm trees, and has always had a passion for the technological side of the agricultural business.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I grew up around plants my entire life. I spent a lot of summers traveling with my dad, who was a territory salesman for a soil company. Those experiences left an impression on me so being in a greenhouse feels like home to me. As long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by little seeds and what they create. I started my own business at the age of 16, selling palm tree seeds to local nurseries around South Florida. Toward the end of college, I was selected for a very competitive internship at Epcot’s “The Land,” a working hydroponic greenhouse that produces fresh produce for the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks.

Over the next 12 years, I was a head grower for two large foliage companies in Florida. I then started a produce company with a childhood friend in 2009. We delivered what we grew to produce delivery companies in the winter months, traveling up and down the east coast from South Florida all the way to New York. We had always been these scrappy little guys, so we had to come up with ways to compete with the “big guys.” We had the capacity, due to our size and our ability to deliver fresh produce fast to our customers. We saw a need in the market where produce delivery companies needed fresh produce faster, and we helped fill that void.

When the 2018 Farm Bill was passed, one of my business partners, Tommy Vick, volunteered to help the University of Florida (UF) grow hemp in South Florida. That opened the door to what is now TBG Hemp. Dr. Zach Brym, who led the UF Pilot Program, later asked a few select growers if they would like to participate in a farm trial. We were one of the selected farms, and this allowed us to proceed to trial different genetics regardless if they’d been approved by the State of Florida or not. After our trial, we determined that Florida farmers needed better genetics, so we decided to team up with Zoe Therapeutics to grow their Bubba Kush, which has become our best-seller. We also saw the need for consistency in the current CBD flower market. We produce Bubba Kush in temperature-controlled greenhouses where we are able to control the environment by avoiding rain and humidity. This allows us to provide our customers with a consistent product year-round, which in turn allows us to offer more consistent pricing. We also have a state-of-the-art facility glass greenhouse in Riverhead, NY, which has allowed us to expand our reach and help with logistics.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

When we first started growing on a large scale in late 2019, we had many companies telling us they would buy thousands of pounds from us. This included some companies in Florida saying they would give us their amazing genetics and, if the flower was quality, they would be able to move thousands of pounds a month at a certain price. Needless to say, when the time came to buy our flower, we were told the market was flooded and they couldn’t move the flower they had us grow.

Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Don’t grow more than you are willing to throw away or sit on. In this market, the volatility is intense. Unless someone gives our company a deposit to grow for them, we will continue to grow at our speed and for that which we have sales. It’s unfortunate because there are a number of great farmers that just want to put in a good day’s work, be told what to grow and where to sell it, and eventually get paid for it. However, due to the current environment, after a farmer’s first season, they usually throw in the towel. We have to continue to stabilize the supply chain with consistency across the board, especially the farmers. Without them, no one would have product to sell.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting?

At the time, I didn’t think this was funny, however, looking back at the hemp genetics we started growing with compared to where we are now is eye opening. We started growing back in early 2019 with genetics that were suggested by one of our state pilot programs in Florida. Due to Florida statute, we had to grow state-certified genetics. We basically ended up buying approved genetics that hermed out (when female plants become hermaphrodite to self-pollinate) due to instability in the seed.

Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

In an emerging industry, you always have to deal with the balance between protecting the growers and consumers and allowing time for research. With hemp being my first heavily regulated industry, I learned that sometimes it is better to start small and perfect a product rather than trying to produce large quantities of hemp flower with genetics we have never used before.

Are you working on any exciting projects now?

We are currently doing R&D on a small scale to continue to understand and develop the supply chain in the Unites States as well other countries, to grow and process hemp for fiber. The possibilities with fiber are endless. It certainly isn’t cheap to experiment sometimes, but we believe it will be worth it further down the road.

How do you think that will help people?

Hemp fiber is currently being used for clothing, shoes, building materials. The hope is we can create a new economy where we are using hemp fiber as a resource for more beyond that.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

My dad, no doubt. I believe you have to build a good foundation in both your personal life and in business, and he laid that foundation for me. He passed away in August 2020, just as things were starting to get busy for us at TBG, which I wasn’t prepared for. He was my go-to guy for strategy and ideation. I am grateful for everything he taught me, and I continue to keep those lessons with me today.

Can you share a story?

As I mentioned earlier, my dad was a soil salesman, which involved making sure his customers were getting the right blends of soil they needed for the specific plants they were growing, he really understood the science of soil. He traveled often to visit his customers greenhouses and he would let me travel around with him after school if local and during the summer months on extended trips. I remember I was around 10 years old and he said to me, “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” I am always striving to do my best even though sometimes it is very difficult. All I can do is give myself a pep talk like my dad used to do and continue to be the best I can be in business and most importantly in my personal life.

This industry is young dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?

Our goal is to solve the problems that the industry is lacking and be the best at what we are selling. We create quality and consistency for our customers. This is achieved by having an experienced and dynamic team.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry?

The three things that excite me the most about the cannabis industry is the state-of-the-art technology, the relationships and the unknown. The opportunities in the industry are endless.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you?

The three things that concern me the most are tracking, the supply chain and labor.

Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Many people in the cannabis industry are focused solely on profits and how to make a quick buck. Beware of the scammers and the snake oil salesmen.
  2. Find a good mentor that is already successful in the industry. Sometimes, people are scared to ask for help, but relationships in the industry are important. You never know when you will need a favor, so never burn a bridge.
  3. Make sure you are prepared to pivot and be flexible because things literally change by the week in this industry.
  4. There are a lot of average cannabis companies out there. We realized from early on that it’s important to set your company apart from what everyone else is doing.
  5. Start as lean as possible and be realistic about your cash flow.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?

People want to be respected. I believe many companies are focused on the money and they tend to forget about the human aspect of business. Often people are struggling in their personal life and they are expected to not bring that into the workplace. At TBG Hemp, we try to create a sense of family and understanding to provide a positive work environment.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I try to live my life by this saying from Mother Teresa: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Do everything to the best of your abilities. It costs nothing to treat people with respect. If you have the ability to do one small act of kindness with love by all means plant that seed. You never know how that might shape that person’s future and what fruit it will bring to harvest.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

For more information, visit www.tbghemp.com. We are also on Facebook at TBG Hemp. You can also follow us on Instagram at @tbggardens for our Florida farm and @peconicgrowers for our New York farm.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!


Brandon Boyd of TBG Hemp: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.