Rewilding corn reveals what its roots forgot

Corn is a colossal grain in the global food and feed chain, with the U.S. producing roughly 30% of the world's supply, or nearly 278 million metric tons in the 2024–25 growing season alone. But its journey from wild grass to staple crop began in central Mexico with teosinte (from the Nahuatl word "teocintli," meaning "sacred corn"). Over thousands of years, domestication and selective breeding transformed teosinte into the corn we enjoy at backyard barbecues today.