Vertical Wellness™ and GenCanna Expand Strategic Partnership

LOS ANGELES, July 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertical Wellness™ [VWEL], an industry leader in the branded hemp cannabinoid health and wellness space, and GenCanna Acquisition Corp. ("GenCanna"), a leading vertically integrated seed to sale company that cultivates and harvests hemp biomass for processing and extraction into product, today announced that they have expanded their strategic partnership and entered into a new biomass tolling agreement, under which GenCanna is delivering over 10 million pounds of best in-class hemp biomass grown within GenCanna's Certified Farming Network to Vertical Wellness for processing.

In conjunction with the agreement, Vertical Wellness has agreed to acquire GenCanna's proprietary drying technology as part of an industry move to consolidate and create larger economies of scale. Vertical Wellness has invested substantially in its production capacity to meet GenCanna's needs and those of Vertical's growing customer base. 

Smoke Wallin, Chairman & CEO of Vertical Wellness, commented, "We couldn't be more pleased to build upon our relationship with GenCanna.  One of our key strategic focuses for 2020 and beyond has been to be a resource for the entire hemp industry, by utilizing our operational know-how and scale infrastructure.  Vertical Wellness is on track to process a record amount of high-quality hemp in 2020 when we combine the GenCanna project with other regional farmers and our own biomass."

Andrew Barnett, GenCanna's Chief Executive Officer, added, "We are excited to further our existing relationship with Vertical Wellness, which has proven to be a strong processing partner for our business and shares GenCanna's values of compliance and quality. We look forward to continuing successful collaboration as we leverage Vertical Wellness's drying capabilities to ramp production of first-rate hemp-derived CBD products."

Kathy Ireland, Chair, CEO and Chief Designer of kathy ireland® Worldwide and Vertical Wellness Advisory Board member says, "One of the reasons we partnered with Smoke and his brilliant team at Vertical Wellness, is Smoke's vast knowledge, history and expertise in corporate leadership and now in the Hemp industry, which is at the forefront of the sector.  Their vision and ability to implement at every segment of the hemp supply chain supports the industry in so many constructive ways. The team is delighted to support GenCanna's respected large-scale business."

Vertical Wellness operates a 14-acre property in Cadiz, Kentucky, which includes a 90,000 square foot facility and houses a large hemp Vulcan® dryer capable of drying over eight tons of hemp per hour. Vertical Wellness is also in the process of acquiring a second Vulcan dryer, which, once running alongside existing equipment and GenCanna's technology, will establish an industry leading drying network achieving nearly one million pounds per week in drying capacity.

Vertical Wellness's Services Division was created in early 2020 to provide services to the entire industry.  Vertical looks forward to helping farmers, processors and other participants in the industry with the 2020 harvest and their subsequent processing needs.

About Vertical Wellness™
Vertical Wellness is a leading vertically integrated consumer focused health and wellness brand company with innovative hemp cannabinoid solutions. Our mission is to help people by bringing the most innovative and effective portfolio of cannabinoid (CBD and others) brands to the market. Initial VWEL brands include kathy ireland® Health & Wellness, Taos™, Lap Dog™, Par5™, Halogenix™, Wingra Farms™, Neutrate™, USMCC™, and Hemp-Moji™. VWEL Services™ leverages our extensive investment and team knowledge by helping the entire industry with strategic, financial, branding, sales and hemp processing solutions. Vertical Wellness has operations in California and Kentucky and cultivated over 1,800 acres of hemp on partner farms in 2019. The Company is one of the largest processors of hemp globally with close to 20 million lbs processed or contracted in 2020.

About GenCanna
GenCanna is a vertically integrated agriculture-technology company specializing in the production of hemp rich in CBD. Committed to helping farmers farm, the GenCanna Certified Farming Network ensures a compliant, consistent supply of hemp-derived products grown on accredited U.S. family farms. GenCanna's seed-to-shelf chain of custody is built with the industry's strictest compliance standards (BRC, cGMP) and links the farmers directly to the finished goods.

Founded in 2014, as an inaugural member of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Industrial Hemp Pilot Program, the company is a longstanding industry pioneer. GenCanna works closely with state universities, consumer protection agencies, and other regulatory bodies driving key industry standards and legislation. Consistent extraction methods and innovative processing technologies ensure GenCanna production processes exceed all regulatory standards for FDA registered and inspected food production facilities (learn more at https://gencanna.com/compliance/). The GenCanna Production Platform™ assures standardized, repeatable quality from farm to finished product.

GenCanna is a founding board member of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable. Launched in early 2017, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable is a coalition of over 70 hemp companies – representing every link of the product chain, from seed to sale – and all of the industry's major national grassroots organizations. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable has secured the passage of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress that established hemp federally as an agricultural commodity, permanently removing it from regulation as a controlled substance.

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SOURCE Vertical Wellness and GenCanna