Italian farmer plants mystery attic seeds
The gist
Farmer Claudio Grossi planted unidentified seeds from his attic and grew six-foot poulard wheat with seven ears.
The hardy grain, once grown in Italy, may offer lessons for climate-hit crops.
How it unfolded
- Around 1915Grossi's great-grandfather established the family farmstead near Parma, in northern Italy.
- Early 1990sGrossi found an old sack of unidentified seeds in his attic, believed left by his late great-grandfather.
- Early 1990sHe scattered the dry, cracked seeds over a manure pile and forgot them, but they germinated and produced several kinds of wheat.