Mexican agriculture remains in crisis: 10 million tons of grain can’t be sold, the government is not meeting agreements while US dumping destroys the market & even limits access to credit to help farms last another season.
Mexico’s food sovereignty is being rapidly eroded thanks to the dumping of heavily subsidized US corn and the USMCA, which is an erroneously named “trade” agreement to subjugate, not develop, the Mexican nation.
Farmers are guaranteed a price of 27 pesos per kilo from the federal government centers, compared to the 7-12 pesos that intermediaries or coyotes pay them. But there’s one catch: they aren’t operating.
Another blow for Mexican food sovereignty & farmers, who are already battling the US dumping some of the most heavily subsidized crops in the world.
Coffee producers are hoping that 2026 will be a year where the government expands support for the industry and ensures fair prices.
National agriculture is overwhelmed by heavily subsidized US imports & squeezed by food monopolies, while beneficial state programs only extend to the poorest of producers.
Without state regulation and as a result of “free trade”, transnational corporations are increasingly controlling the basic food market and imperiling Mexican food sovereignty.
Campesino organizations are proposing the government creating a Strategic Food Reserve to stabilize prices, strengthen food sovereignty & help thousands of farmers facing ruin from the agricultural crisis.
Transnational corporations won in both NAFTA & the USMCA, and Mexico is not prepared to face the greater demands the US will impose in its favor for the continuation of the USMCA or in a new trade agreement.
Mexico’s government has not met its commitment to enforce its agreed-upon price for farmers, who are forced to sell to an oligopsony of corporations, intermediaries and wholesale operators.