For example, the Amazon pupunha-a is a fruit that can yield twice as much starch as Iowa corn, and the Amazonian babassu palm gives the world's highest yield of vegetable oil.
In the No. 1 corn and soy state of Iowa on Friday, scouts estimated the state's yield at 146 bpa, down 16 percent from the average of 174.7 bpa in the same areas of the state last year.