Campeche Corn Farmers Accuse Mexican Agriculture Secretariat of Breaking Promise to Buy Annual Production

ByMexico Solidarity

This article by Lorenzo Chim originally appeared in the November 23, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Editor’s note: Predictably, the recent farmers actions in Mexico originate from ideologically diverse quarters, from the remnants of the old, PRI-dominated campesino organizations to more left-wing organizations, but the primary demands have remained consistent and progressive: to secure food sovereignty, particulary in basic grains, in a country which has experienced massive dumping from the United States for decades, since the origin of the “free trade” agreements. There’s no more stark example of the disaster facing the Mexican field than corn. The dilemma is expertly described in this article by Timothy A. Wise. Mexico, which is almost entirely sovereign in corn production and known as the home of corn, is flooded with white corn from the United States, heavily-subsidized to the tune of over $5 billion USD annually and supported by a variety of programs and supports from governments at all three levels in the United States.

Campeche, Campeche. With shouts and banging on the table, farmers from Campeche protested to the Undersecretary of Agrarian Development, Leonel Cota Montaño, about the failure to fulfill his commitment to guarantee a market for the 700,000 tons of crops they expect this year and that the price should be 7,200 pesos per ton.

The meeting held in the boardroom of the State Secretariat of Agricultural Development became heated when the corn farmers of Campeche complained about the absence of executives from companies such as Maseca, Minsa, Bachoco, Keken and Crio, who prefer to import genetically modified corn from Brazil and the United States because it is cheaper instead of buying from local farmers.

The producers said they have already reached a first agreement for Mexican Food Security (Segalmex) to buy 64,000 tons of corn from them at 6,200 pesos, and that the Federal Government will grant them a subsidy of 850 pesos per ton, while the State Government will set aside 150 pesos to reach a price of 7,200 pesos per ton.

However, there have been no agreements with companies that consume large quantities of corn to manufacture corn flour – the basis for making tortillas – or for the consumption of their poultry and pig farms.

They threatened to block the entry of products from Maseca, Minsa, Bachoco, Keken and Crio if there are no agreements at the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday.

The meeting became tense due to the lack of answers from the Undersecretary of Agriculture, Leonel Cota Montaño. Shouting and complaints abounded, and some farmers banged on the table with their hands.

The farmers from the municipalities of Campeche, Calkini, Hecelchakan, Tenabo and Hopelchen complained to Cota Montaño that he had not been able to bring the businessmen and industrialists to the negotiating table to define and commit to the guaranteed price of 7,200 pesos per ton of white corn produced in Campeche.

Around 8:00 p.m., the negotiations between the corn farmers of Camino Real, Hopelchén, and other corn-producing micro-regions were made public.

The agreement offered by Cota Montaño, former director of Food Security and Self-Sufficiency (SEGALMEX), regarding the fact that the white, top-quality, non-GMO corn produced in Campeche would be consumed by industrialists, did not materialize.

Campeche producers feel cheated because last Friday, November 14, Undersecretary Cota Montaño and local officials promised them that they would buy the entire state production, estimated at up to 700,000 tons.

Likewise, local and federal officials had promised them that representatives of the industrialists from Maseca, Kekén, Crío, etc. would be present at the meeting this Friday, November 20, which did not happen.