Meet The Farmers

STEFANO NANNINI

They say life is full of surprises; the good ones seem to unfold effortlessly. One night in Italy a few years back, we attended our children’s elementary school year-end dinner. We ended up sitting across from a father we had never talked with before because his two children were in different grades. Our conversation that night led to a great idea for the future.

We discovered that Stefano worked on contract for local farmers, sowing and harvesting their crops. We also discovered that many of these farms were certified organic and had grown wheat in years past, but had discovered that it was becoming increasingly difficult to just break even. We explained that we wanted to grow a unique, ancient variety of wheat and asked if he might be interested if we agreed upon a fair price for his harvest. He seemed undeterred when we explained that this wheat yielded less than half as much per acre as modern wheat.

Now, we not only know where our einkorn comes from and how it is cared for, we can pass by the fields frequently and we and our children marvel at how magnificent it is to watch farming unfold each season. Our seeds are cared for by hands-on, remarkable farmers like Stefano and we believe that is what makes each Jovial finished product that much more special.