Last week, Science published a series of papers related to the maize genome project, representing the culmination of the four-year effort to sequence the genome of corn. The results demonstrate the largest and most complex plant genome sequence to date and is expected to speed up the development of corn varieties that will help feed the world and meet growing demands. This is an amazing accomplishment in research. It provides much insight and will have a great impact on agricultural productivity, much like the human genome has had on human health. In addition, this project is a positive example of how public-private partnerships and strong government investment can benefit small and large farmers worldwide to close the productivity gap. The National Science Foundation, USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy jointly funded the $29.5 million effort, which was led by a team of scientists from Washington University, Iowa State University, University of Arizona and Cold Spring Laboratory in New York. The effort also received support from Ceres, Monsanto, and Pioneer, who shared their corn genome sequencing data. Congratulations to the entire team on the success of this endeavor. We face a growing global agricultural productivity gap and must continue to stimulate innovations in agriculture just like these to close the gap.