According to Phillip Abbott, an agricultural economist at Purdue University, the US’ dominance in the global corn market is waning as foreign nations that previously relied on the US for corn are growing their own or buying from other countries. Abbott says that the 2007-08 food crisis and commodity price spike forced the rest of the world to expand production and become more self-sufficient. USDA statistics support Abbott’s argument—they estimate a decrease from 2.4 billion bushels of corn exported in 2007-08 to just 1.1 billion in 2012-13.