The vast majority of organic durum wheat is currently grown using untreated conventional seeds utilized through legal exemptions. Because these commercial varieties were designed for intensive traditional agriculture, they do not adapt optimally to organic soils, resulting in lower yields, drops in pasta protein levels, and a worrying dependence on the conventional seed industry.
To break this cycle, Girolomoni is developing Bio-Breeding – a purely organic seed lineage in close partnership with scientists and the Seminare il Futuro foundation. The project runs field trials directly in the Marche territory to demonstrate crop viability to farmers. Through custom-designed contracts and advanced pre-financing systems that reduce financial risk for the producer, the cooperative drives a gradual transition.
The ultimate strategic goal is to ensure that over half of their entire contracted durum wheat acreage is sown exclusively with these native organic seeds by 2030.
