Arcadia Biosciences and Archipelago Ventures Announce Strategic Partnership with Vivion Specialties, Inc. to Certify and Distribute Hawaiian Hemp Products Across North America

DAVIS, Calif., March 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKDA), a leader in science-based approaches to enhancing the quality and nutritional value of crops and food ingredients, today announced a new partnership between Archipelago Ventures and Vivion Specialties, Inc. (VSI), a North American specialty ingredient supplier. VSI will serve as Archipelago's North American distributor, managing the stateside marketing and sales of sun-grown Hawaiian hemp ingredients in key markets like food and beverage, human and pet nutrition and personal care. 

Established in 2019, Archipelago Ventures is Arcadia's joint venture with Legacy Ventures Hawaii to cultivate and extract high quality hemp and hemp derivatives on the islands. The new partnership between Archipelago and VSI is based on the companies' mutual goals of providing ethically cultivated, genetically superior hemp-based ingredients that have been rigorously tested for purity, offering customers transparency and peace of mind. VSI is known for its proprietary VivAssure^® purity validation process, which tests every ingredient and provides a detailed Certificate of Analysis of their contents.

"When it comes to hemp and hemp-derived products like cannabidiol (CBD), ingredient transparency and quality control are a high priority for discerning retailers and shoppers," said Arcadia CEO Matthew Plavan. "With VivAssure, Vivion Specialties has pioneered a new and rigorous standard for the testing and certification of hemp ingredients. What's more, Vivion is an experienced specialty ingredient supplier with a network of 18 sales regions in the U.S. and Canada, making them an ideal partner to distribute what we expect will be the first Hawaiian-grown, Hawaiian-extracted CBD ingredients available in North America," he added.

Archipelago's Hawaiian hemp products will be marketed as meeting VivAssure product quality standards, validating that they are free of over 950 pesticides and contaminants, 24 heavy metals and a variety of microbial organisms, and contain the precise tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content and CBD profile listed.

"For more than sixty years, Vivion, Inc. has prioritized providing customers with the highest quality product ingredients across the food and beverage, human and pet nutrition and personal care markets," said VSI CEO and Founder and Vivion, Inc. President Michael Poleselli. "Through our partnership with Archipelago and Arcadia Biosciences, a leader in hemp innovation, we're applying these capabilities to one of the most exciting and in-demand new consumer product categories: hemp-derived CBD." 

Archipelago and VSI's VivAssure Hemp-based ingredients are expected to be available for sale to North American food, beverage, pet and supplement manufacturers later this year. 

About Archipelago Ventures, LLC
Established in 2019, Archipelago Ventures is a joint venture between Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. and Legacy Ventures Hawaii to cultivate and extract high quality hemp and hemp derivatives on the islands. The partnership joins Arcadia's extensive genetic expertise and resources with Legacy's proven experience in extraction and sales – and leverages Arcadia's existing licensed cultivation facility in Hawaii, resulting in one vertically integrated supply chain, from seed to sale. Former Gold Glove and World Champion Major League Baseball player Shane Victorino is a principal in the company, along with other native islanders committed to building Hawaii's capacity to supply branded health and wellness goods.

About Vivion Specialties, Inc.
Vivion Specialties, Inc. (VSI) was founded in 2019 by Michael Poleselli, President of Vivion, Inc. (VI). VSI and Vivion Inc. (VI) have a combination of over 62 years of industry experience specializing in ingredient distribution. VSI, Vivion Specialties Canada, ULC and Vivion, Inc. currently have sales teams in over 18 regions throughout British Columbia and the United States. Together, VSI and VI own the VivAssure^® brand and the proprietary VivAssure^® testing process, which rigorously screens product ingredients for more than 950 pesticides and contaminants, 24 heavy metals and a variety of microbial organisms, providing a detailed Certificate of Analysis. For more information, visit www.vivioninc.com/vivassure.   

About Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.
Arcadia Biosciences (Nasdaq: RKDA) is a leader in science-based approaches to enhancing the quality and nutritional value of crops and food ingredients. The company's GoodWheat™ branded ingredients deliver health benefits to consumers and enable consumer packaged goods companies to differentiate their brands in the marketplace. Arcadia's agricultural traits are being developed to enable farmers around the world to be more productive and minimize the impact of agriculture on the environment. The company's new GoodHemp seed catalog delivers genetically superior hemp seeds, clones, transplants, flower and extracts, applying the company's proprietary crop innovation technology, ArcaTech, to an emerging crop.  For more information, visit www.arcadiabio.com.   

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the expected timing of the products to market. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: Arcadia's and its partners' and affiliates' expectations about the legal cannabis industry and potential demand for our products; the uncertainty of the laws and regulations relating to hemp and products derived therefrom; the inherent uncertainty associated with the development of new projects; the acceptance of our products in the marketplace; the impact of competitive products and pricing; risks related to costs, delays and uncertainties associated with potential future scientific research; our future capital requirements and ability to satisfy our capital needs; ; and the other risks set forth in Arcadia's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the risks set forth in Arcadia's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and other filings. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.

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http://www.arcadiabio.com