Food-Grade Wheatgrass Variety Released for Public Use

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Wheatgrass is packed with beneficial nutrients, which makes the crop a popular superfood. 

Wheatgrass is packed with beneficial nutrients, which makes the crop a popular superfood. And now, more farmers will have access to growing this beneficial crop.

Historically, wheatgrass has been used as a crop in animal feed. However, a partnership between The Land Institute and the University of Minnesota changed that.

The University of Minnesota recently released the first food-grade wheatgrass variety for public use. Now, this eco-friendly and cost-effective crop can be commonly grown as human food, too.

"The Land Institute has been breeding Intermediate wheatgrass since 2002," explains James Anderson, a professor at the University of Minnesota. "Developed using germplasm provided by The Land Institute in 2011, this variety of wheatgrass is the first to be available for public use."

Read more at American Society of Agronomy

Image: MN-Clearwater wheatgrass seed, whose grain threshes freely from the hulls 63% of the time. (Credit: Brett Heim)