In nations where food is plentiful, it is easy to take that abundance for granted. In the United States, for example - a country rich in corn fields and pasturelands, and where shops overflow with cheap produce - agricultural research has languished for years under comparatively low budgets and disorganized funding priorities. In the 2009 economic stimulus bill, for example, the National Science Foundation received a $3-billion boost and the National Institutes of Health got $10 billion - but the Department of Agricultures internal research programme was allocated just $176 million, all of which was restricted to improving facilities.
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