New venture focused on sun-grown Hawaiian hemp

Archipelago Ventures will be the name of a joint venture between Arcadia Biosciences and Legacy Ventures Hawaii, to grow, extract and sell sun-grown hemp.

The new partnership combines Arcadia’s genetics expertise and licensed cultivation facility in Hawaii, with resources with Legacy’s proven experience in extraction and sales. It will be a vertically-integrated supply chain, from seed to the sale of the extract.

First sales are expected late 2019, according to a press release from Arcadia. Matt Plavan, president of Arcadia Specialty Genomics and CFO of Arcadia Biosciences, said the partnership will seek to scale up its operations.

As Arcadia’s new Hawaiian hemp extraction and sales partner, Legacy brings growth capital and strategic advisory in Hawaiian and Asian markets, as well as access to Legacy’s equity partner, Vapen CBD, according to the release. Vapen CBD will be responsible for the construction and operation of Archipelago’s Hawaiian hemp extraction facilities. These facilities will give growers on the island an opportunity to convert their agricultural hemp into high-grade CBD hemp production.

Hawaii’s unique geographic and climate advantages for growing and harvesting hemp year-round will provide a long-term competitive advantage that many mainland cultivators and producers will not attain, according to a release from Arcadia. Hawaii’s geographic advantage also provides access to important CBD and hemp markets in Asia.

The recent passage of the U.S. Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 – also known as the Farm Bill – confirmed the federal legalization of hemp, the term given to non-psychoactive cannabis containing less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. It also included provisions for legalizing on a federal level hemp’s cultivation, transport and sale for the first time in more than 75 years.