Rural Rage
As Monday’s protests demonstrate, Mexican farmers are at a breaking point. Caught between the USMCA trade agreement and a wall of policies that ignore them, they are fighting for their survival. Their anger will not subside anytime soon.
Agriculture
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Flour Mills Pay $4 or $5 per Kilo for Corn & Sell Tortillas for $27
“We’re all worn out from working so hard, while you support businessmen who earn billions!,” exclaimed Salvador Ruiz, a farmer from Jalisco, to the Agriculture Secretariat’s delegate.
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Mexican Farmers Occupy US Border Crossing, Protesting Agricultural Policy
Campesinos are demanding the federal government craft a sovereign agricultural scheme & leave the speculative market of the Chicago Stock Exchange, which forces prices well below production value.
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Campeche Corn Farmers Accuse Mexican Agriculture Secretariat of Breaking Promise to Buy Annual Production
Maseca, Minsa, Bachoco, Keken and Crio executives, who import corn from US, also failed to show up to the meeting despite promises from the government.
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Mexico Imported Record 40.7 Million Tons of Grain
Heavily subsidized corn from the US is flooding the market, destroying farmers’ livelihoods and leading to country-wide strikes & blockades as the government’s stated concern for food sovereignty is questioned.
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No Agreement: Government Denies Support to Sugarcane Growers, Postpones Response for 2 Weeks
The unsuccessful meeting arose after the government agreed to it to end a November 12th sugarcane grower blockade in Mexico City.
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Reducing Inflation with Cheap Imports is Costly
Mexico’s imports are equivalent to 48% of agricultural production, resulting in a year-on-year loss of food sovereignty and a greater dependence on capital inflows which benefits the financial sector at the expense of national public & private sectors.
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The Crisis in the Mexican Countryside
Environmental deregulation, rural abandonment, speculative pricing, and the prioritization of property rights over human rights were central tenets of neoliberal economic policy, whose impact on Mexican farmers is now a subject of reflection in our country.
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Sugarcane Growers Lift Blockade: Will Establish Working Group with Mexican Agriculture Secretariat for Rescue Plan
After 30 hours of protest, the sugarcane farmers lifted their blockade in Mexico City, signing a document that did not include their request for a 300 pesos per ton subsidy.
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Campesinos Demand Halt to Attorney General’s Investigation Into Farmers Strike Blockades
Farmers had planned to block customs & international bridges a week prior, but decided against it to avoid retaliation from the US government.
