Arcadia Biosciences Announces New Business Unit Dedicated to Cannabis

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (Davis, California), an agricultural food ingredient company that is known for leveraging advanced, proprietary breeding techniques to improve the quality and nutritional content of wheat and soybeans, announced that they will apply their expertise cannabis. With the establishment of Arcadia Specialty Genomics, the company is reportedly dedicating a first-of-its-kind strategic business unit to the optimization and standardization of cannabis plant content, quality, climate resiliency, and yield. Arcadia Specialty Genomics intends to conduct its business only in federal and state markets in which cannabis is legal. The company will initially focus on the hemp market with Chief Financial Officer Matt Plavan appointed as president of Arcadia Specialty Genomics.

“Within the rapidly growing legal cannabis industry, we see enormous opportunity in-and demand for-improved plant quality, productivity, consistency, and resilience,” said Raj Ketkar, president and CEO of Arcadia Biosciences. “With this new operating unit, Arcadia Specialty Genomics, we are uniquely qualified as a proven crop improvement company equipped to address the legacy challenges facing a plant that until recently was largely grown unlawfully.”  

According to the company press release, Arcadia Specialty Genomics will develop novel cannabis varieties possessing productivity, pest resistance, and crop quality traits for license to cultivators and for products serving the nutraceutical and food industries. These developments are made possible through a proprietary approach combining conventional breeding, Arcadia’s advanced screening and breeding technology, and gene editing. Through this process, the company states that plant populations carrying desirable, high-value genetic characteristics are identified, isolated, and bred to reproduce.

“Our ability to bring innovative traits to the market for some of the most complex plant genomes is unparalleled, and we’re excited to turn our attention and expertise to the critical needs facing the rapidly evolving cannabis industry,” said Matt Plavan. “Our near-term focus will be acquiring federal and state licensure in key geographies to launch our research and pilot programs, for which we expect to begin operations in early 2019. In parallel, we are evaluating key partnerships to extend our capabilities vertically, maximize shareholder value, and establish Arcadia Specialty Genomics as the leading science-driven company and genetics innovator for cannabis.”