Corn kernel including food, biofuel, and bioplastics. Corn is a popular food throughout the world in many forms. It is used in breakfast cereals in the Western world (as corn flakes) and it is a grain that can be eaten raw off the cob, although it is usually preferred cooked. It may be fed to animals or humans. In the United States, for economic reasons such as government subsidies, corn is the basis of many products, in the form of high fructose corn syrup, in favor of cane sugar. A genetic variant that accumulates more sugar and less starch in the ear
National Institute of Food and Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is a U.S. Federal government body whose creation was mandated in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Its purpose is to consolidate all federally funded agricultural research, and is subordinate to the Department of Agriculture. It replaced the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service in 2009. The mission of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is to stimulate and fund the research and technological innovations that will enhance American agriculture and make