Mexico Creates Ordering System For White Corn to Benefit Entire Production Chain

At the National Palace President Claudia Sheinbaum signed the agreement launching the “Fair Price” white corn and commercialization system. The initiative is designed to benefit the entire production chain with the aim of strengthen Mexico’s food sovereignty. 

President Sheinbaum explained that the initiative arose as a response to the crisis facing corn farmers. After years of severe drought, they found themselves in debt, with stagnant harvests and market prices that fell below production cost. These pressures threaten, in the worst case scenario, to force them to abandon planting the grain entirely.  

In this regards, she highlighted that the initiative was designed to protect the sector following an engaging dialogue with all those involved in the corn production and commercialization chain. After addressing the current crises—where farmers face losing their investments and cannot compete with imported corn—the initiative will implement a production registry and generate new instruments to address potential risks to the harvests. 

Columba López Gutiérrez, the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, explained that the agreement relies on three core components: advanced contract commercialization, the sale of input at fair prices, and a mechanism to safeguard white corn and its price. 

Regrading to the first point, López Gutiérrez indicated that advance purchase will be made before each corn harvest through contracts freely agreed upon by the various actors in the production chain. Companies will prioritize the acquisition and consumption of domestic white corn over imports. While also participating in the planning mechanism to “strengthen certainty, improve scheduling and promote orderly commercialization”.  

With regards to sale of inputs at a fair price the agro-industries and suppliers of strategic inputs—such as seeds, fertilizers and agricultural supplies— will participate in direct sales schemes at a fair price aimed at producers with the objective of strengthening the productivity and profitability of the corn sector, explained the head of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Columba López Gutiérrez concluded by highlighting that, with this agreement, Mexico for the first time has a mechanism that protects white corn and its price for producers incorporated in this planning system, in order to strengthen the financial and productive viability of agricultural activity in the face of climatic, phytosanitary, and market contingencies.