A "whole grain" is a "whole seed". 
If it is a genuine unbroken whole wheat seed you can sprout it. 
The end of the seed that produces the sprout is the "germ". 
The thin, colored seed skin is the "bran", which is tasty, edible and a necessary part of food; it is fiber and it carries other foods all the way through the digestive system without being itself digested. 
The middle "endosperm" of the wheat seed or grain is filled with starch and protein which is the store of food for the new wheat sprout. The growing plant can only use this food store if the vitamins, minerals and other plant nutrients are provided by the bran and germ. Similarly, people can only use the starch and protein from wheat properly if they also eat the germ and bran at the same time, since these supply the needed nutrient helpers for proper digestion and use for growth and energy

What is "barm"?

         There are two words in the English language that were originally used for a sourdough bread starter: "yeast" and "barm". However, in the 1800s when it was discovered that a living microorganism was responsible for the gassing in a sourdough starter; the microorganism was given the name "yeast". 
        Purified bakers’ yeast has been commercially available for making bread, since the late 1800s. Since then it has been the normal leavening for bread from refined flour, which was brought into almost universal production at the same time. Whole wheat "barm" sourdough starters were steadily lost from the bakers’ range of skills. Now the word "barm" is known only to those interested in bread history, and sourdough bread making.        Historically, barm starter production was similar to making beer. A sweet mash was prepared from malt, milled grain and warm water, and allowed to cool. A small amount of the previous ferment was then added, and the mash supplied all the nutrients needed for a vigorous fermentation to continue (Jago & Jago, 1911).       "Malt" is sprouted grain, usually barley, wheat or rye that has been gently dried or roasted. Sprouting is just long enough for the main shoot to equal the length of the grain, although the roots grow much longer in the same time. To be suitable for making a mash, the drying process for the malt must be very gentle, so that the enzymes generated in the sprouts remain active. During the warm water mash process, some enzymes from the malt act on the milled grain and release sugars from the starch and other carbohydrates, which are built from chains of sugar molecules. Other enzymes act on the grain phytates and so release minerals. The addition of some common salt (sodium chloride) and the presence of calcium and magnesium salts in the water supply, enhance the effectiveness of the enzymatic processes. 
     All the enzymes, minerals and vitamins normally used in the sprouting grain to start a new plant are brought into action in the mash. This mash is a perfect food for the barm sourdough microorganisms, which are a naturally symbiotic mixture of yeasts and lactic bacteria. The symbiosis is based on the fact that the sourdough yeasts ferment only some types of sugar and in particular leave maltose to be fermented by the lactic bacteria. This allows a vigorous lactic ferment in the presence of barm yeasts. The natural acidity produced limits the kind of microorganism that can grow there, and usually this means that disease-causing microorganisms are excluded. When salt (sodium chloride) is included, this further limits microbial contamination of the barm.
       In the 1980s the predominant yeast in both wheat and rye barm, was identified by Herman J. Phaff at the University of California, in Davis, as Saccharomyces dairensis. The major lactic bacteria were identified as Lactobacillus brevis, atypical, at the American Type Culture Collection in Maryland (US Patent 4,666,719 now expired). For comparison, the San Francisco sourdough contains predominantly Saccharomyces exiguus and Lactobacillus sanfrancisco, which were recognized by Kline & Sugihara in the 1970s. Panetonne sourdough contains mainly Saccharomyces exiguus and Lactobacillus brevis (Galli & Ottogalli, 1973). Modern bakers yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, generally ferments a wide range of sugar types, including maltose. This can limit lactic fermentation in the presence of bakers’ yeast.

A California whole grain initiative

 .............. To encourage an increased supply of basic whole grain foods, enough for everyone, and made genuinely with all the grain ingredients in the whole grain form and without added refined carbohydrates.
Why we need a whole grain initiative            Our most basic staple wheat, is presented almost exclusively as refined flour, lacking bran and germ. The same refined flour milling system is used everywhere in the developed world. This is so, even though bran and germ from grains are essential to human health. Compounds in the bran and germ are well known to prevent metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which are by now pandemic.            Commodity whole wheat flour is produced by recombining bran and germ with refined flour, in an outdated and inefficient multistep process. When produced in this system, whole wheat flour is generally unattractive, is therefore in low demand and is in very short supply compared with the recommended consumption needs for basic whole grain foods.
Implementing our California whole grain initiative• By growing wheat and other grains sustainably in regenerative organic rotation farming systems. • By encouraging the localized installation of single pass stone and impact milling systems for fresh whole grain flour production.• By educating all, regarding the good taste and health benefits of basic whole grain foods, made genuinely with all the grain and grain flour ingredients in the whole grain form. 