Network in Defense of Corn Warns of Risk to Mexico’s Native Seeds
This article originally appeared in the March 30, 2026 edition of Desinformémonos.
Mexico City. Indigenous and peasant communities grouped in the Network in Defense of Corn warned about the risks that native seeds face due to the advancement of technologies such as genetic editing, while reaffirming “that corn is the basis of life, culture and community organization in the country.”
In an assembly held in Huayacocotla, in the Huasteca region of Veracruz, they pointed out that corn is not only a food, but an element that articulates the defense of the territory, water and collective life, highlighting that “the milpa represents a relationship of mutual nurturing between the peoples and nature that sustains food sovereignty.”
They also stressed that the preservation of seeds depends on their planting, care, and exchange within communities, practices they consider fundamental in the face of external models that endanger biodiversity and traditional agricultural systems.
The Network in Defense of Corn rejected any form of genetic modification of seeds and denounced the contradiction of the State in prohibiting the cultivation of transgenic crops while allowing their importation, in addition to demanding the prohibition of genome editing.
In their statement, the communities also spoke out against seed ownership systems and policies that promote land privatization and the commodification of territories, warning that these measures affect autonomy and forms of community organization.
They also warned about the impact of agro-industrial technology packages, whose inputs pollute soil and water, damage health and weaken peasant production, in addition to causing the loss of biodiversity and traditional knowledge.
Finally, they called for the defense of native seeds and the strengthening of youth participation, insisting on the need to maintain food sovereignty and preserve community knowledge in the face of models they consider harmful to life and territories.
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