Soak the farro in 2 cups of hot water while you get the other ingredients together.
Press Sauté on the Instant Pot and when it is hot, add butter and garlic and let it sizzle for 5-10 seconds. Add onions and stir. Press CANCEL to turn off the Instant Pot.
Add butternut squash, farro, water, salt, pepper, thyme, and water.
Close the lid and press PRESSURE COOK. Cook on HIGH pressure for 10 minutes. Then, allow the pot to rest undisturbed for 10 minutes and then release all remaining pressure.
Open the pot. If you like, you can remove some of the butternut squash pieces now for decoration since you're about to pulverize them.
Add parmesan and butter. Stir all of it to smush some of the farro and butternut. Garnish with chopped green onions if using, and serve hot.
To make this recipe vegan, simply vegetable oil instead of butter and omit the parmesan cheese.
Remove some of the butternut squash before mixing the risotto if you'd like to leave some of it intact as mixing the finished risotto will mush all of the squash.
Not sure how to pick a squash? A ripe squash should a full, firm stem, be dark beige in color, and should have a matte, hard surface.