Arcadia Biosciences completes purchase of Industrial Seed Innovations and its portfolio of high CBD feminized hemp seeds

Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASADAQ:RKDA) announced Tuesday it has completed the purchase of Oregon-based Industrial Seed Innovations (ISI), which specializes in organically grown, high CBD feminized hemp seed and seedlings.

With the acquisition, Arcadia said ISI’s portfolio of strong performing, federally compliant hemp varieties have become part of its GoodHemp line of hemp seeds, transplants and extracts. 

READ: Arcadia Biosciences teams up with GoodMills Innovation to bring GoodWheat products to Europe

ISI’s popular Umpqua and Rogue seed varieties each bring unique and highly desirable characteristics to further differentiate Arcadia’s GoodHemp catalog:

• High yielding and CBD dominant, Umpqua is ideal for the smokable and extraction markets. Umpqua is designed to mature earlier than most existing varieties making it very attractive for northern latitudes.
• Also CBD dominant, Rogue is designed to flower and mature later in the season, resulting in ultra-high yielding plants in lower latitudes with longer growing seasons.

“We are carefully designing our seed portfolio to respond to the unique challenges hemp growers face across the US based on climate, geography and both state and federal regulations,” said Arcadia CEO Matt Plavan in a statement. “With these new varieties, we will have an even more robust catalog of seed solutions, as well as the field knowledge of ISI’s talented team.”

The deal solidifies Arcadia’s plans to accelerate the commercialization of its hemp-related breeding platform and establish a research and development facility in the Pacific Northwest, a key hemp production area.

In order to service existing ISI customers and Arcadia’s growing cohort of elite hemp cultivators, the company said it has deployed a multigenerational team of five regional GoodHemp sales agronomists to support existing growers and expand Arcadia’s seed offerings to new territories. This includes states with recent US Department of Agriculture-approved hemp plans such as Florida, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas and Mississippi.

Team of sales specialists

Led by Mark Russell, a seasoned sales executive in agricultural inputs, the team of hemp crop specialists now covers the full territory of the US, augmenting the efforts of Arcadia’s distributors Grow West and Buttonwillow representing a combined 100 sales specialists, Arcadia noted.

“Our team is more equipped than ever to support the needs of hemp growers across the U.S. with novel, genetically superior hemp seeds,” said Russell. “With the addition of ISI’s exciting varieties to our existing catalog, along with the collaborative expertise of our regional agronomic experts, GoodHemp is well-positioned to maximize grower success.”

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Story by ProactiveInvestors