US producers are willing to plant non-GM corn

farmers in United Statess are willing to sow non-gmo corn “fit for purpose” that Mexico needs to limit the use of genetically modified grain, the head of the largest national scientific body said on Friday, amid a trade dispute between the two countries.

The government of the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorhas launched a policy to curb the use of genetically modified corn, of which it buys millions of tons each year from the United States, its partner along with Canada in the trade agreement for North America, TMEC.

The United States has expressed its opposition to this policy, questioning its scientific support and alleging that it will harm its cereal producers.

María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, general director of Conahcyt, said that transgenic corn is “inextricably” linked to the herbicide glyphosate, the use of which Mexico seeks to eliminate in the first months of next year, and does not have the nutritional value of native varieties. Mexico considers itself the cradle of corn.

“Mexico is undergoing an agroecological transition that revalues ​​millennial traditional production rooted in multicultural knowledge that adapts to the social, environmental and cultural context,” Álvarez-Buylla said in a corn forum broadcast online.

“With this, they are intended to contribute to safeguarding the health of Mexicans, as well as the culture of our peoples, contributing to improving the local and peasant economies without implying negative impacts for the commercial relationship that historically has with the producers of United States,” he added.

In March, Washington requested consultations with Mexico in the TMEC on its plan for transgenic corn, despite stopping weeks before a mandate to start with the general ban on transgenic corn in January 2024 and establishing that the grain could be used for animal consumption and with industrial purposes of food for people.

However, the modifications to the initial plan maintained the veto for the grain destined for “human food”, which was defined only as the corn used to make flour with which “tortillas” are made, a basic food in the Mexican diet.

At the beginning of April, authorities announced the creation of a working group to strengthen the detection of genetically modified corn in tortillas. Álvarez-Buylla said Friday that “trace amounts of transgenes from transgenic line cultures” have been found in tortillas, but did not say when or if the findings were part of the working group.

“This is unacceptable for a country like Mexico where 90% of the population consume corn-based tortillas,” added the authority, who has spoken little publicly about the issue.

Mexico’s Undersecretary of Agriculture, Víctor Suárez, told Reuters in October that Mexico is studying the possibility of reaching agreements with farmers in the United States, Argentina and Brazil to ensure imports of unmodified yellow corn – the one the nation buys the most. genetically for livestock feed and make up for a gap in their local production.

On Friday, Suárez stressed the importance of “exploring the opportunities” in the United States in this regard.

“We do not want to be tied to that model of dependency and deterioration, of lack of sustainability and health in the production and consumption of food,” he said at the same forum. “We are very determined to move forward,” she stressed. (Reporting by Adriana Barrera; Editing by Diego Oré)