General Mills, Cascadian Farms back development of new wheatgrass
A perennial wheatgrass thought to be better for soil health is getting commercial backing from organic food maker Cascadian Farms and its parent company General Mills.
Cascadian Farms, based in Anaheim, announced Tuesday a new partnership with The Land Institute to help commercialize and scale-up production of intermediate wheatgrass.
The crop’s trademark name is Kernza and it is a wild relative of annual wheat. Kernza has a much deeper root system than common wheat. It has been shown to increase soil health, water retention, carbon capture (which is proposed as a way to slow accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) and improve wildlife habitat surrounding its crop lands.