Wheat biotech doubles down on California hemp

An agriculture biotech company that markets high-fiber wheat is partnering with two other California firms in an attempt to grab market share among California hemp producers.

Arcadia Biosciences of Davis, California, says it will work with Grow West, a northern California distributor of farm inputs and machinery, and the Buttonwillow Warehouse Company, which sells fertilizer in central and Southern California, to sell and distribute its line of 10 hemp cultivars.

“California is a key region for U.S. hemp production,” Sarah Reiter, Arcadia’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

She added that the “strategic partnership,”  enables Arcadia to gain “access to every production acre in the state.”

The terms of the partnerships were not released.

Arcadia told investors in January that it secured $3 million in pre-season purchase agreements for its line of hemp seeds, most of them designed to produce high-CBD plants.

The company launched a $10 million stock offering last fall to build out its hemp subsidiary, Arcadia Specialty Genomics.

Arcadia trades on the Nasdaq as RKDA.