The Illinois-Missouri Biotechnology Alliance (IMBA) was created to address both the opportunities of plant biotechnology and the concerns surrounding this new science.  IMBA exists to provide sound science and socio-economic assessment, particularly as it relates to the impacts of biotechnology on corn and soybean production, processing, marketing and acceptance.

Cutting-edge, problem-solving research for corn and soybean that creates benefits for producers, consumers and rural communities -- as the research also expands the frontiers of knowedge -- is the over-arching IMBA objective. 

IMBA funds plant biotechnology research that is aimed at keeping the United States food and agriculture sector economically strong and competitive.  This is accomplished via two programmatic objectives.  The first of these, Enhanced Profitability Program, is to enhance profitability by improving the quality, safety, and affordability of agricultural and food products and is achieved by supporting innovative discovery research that is linked explicitly to outcomes. 

The second IMBA objective, Socioeconomic Research Program, is to maximize the benefits of biotechnology for the domestic agriculture and food sectors—and ultimately for the American consumer.  This is achieved by supporting economic, consumer-oriented, and other social research that addresses questions of policy, market emergence, agricultural structure, value chains, social risks, and consumer acceptance.