In response to the panel’s ruling under the Mexico-United States-Canada Agreement (T-MEC) regarding transgenic corn, Mexican Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Julio Berdegué Sacristán emphasized the importance of safeguarding Mexico’s corn biodiversity.
“What the President will do is ensure that no transgenic corn—whether white, yellow, blue, red, or black—is grown in this country. Transgenic corn will not be grown here for any purpose, whether for human consumption, animal feed, or otherwise.”
Corn holds profound cultural significance for all Mexicans, which is why the Mexican government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is committed to protecting native corn varieties, according to a press release.
“Creole corn and our local breeds are a vital reserve of genetic biodiversity, not just for Mexico, but for the planet,” Sacristán stated during the “Objectives and Priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 2025” event.
“The first human settlements that could be formed in what is now Mexico, were possible because there began to be a surplus of corn. And, since then, from our deepest cultures, corn had a divine character, for the Olmecs it was the center of the universe, no more and no less. The world, we, according to its cosmogonies, is based on the origin of corn.”
The federal secretary explained that given the effects of climate change it is necessary to renew the varieties of corn, not only in Mexico, but in the world.
“And where is that genetic reserve? Well, it is fundamentally in this gigantic biodiversity. Every time a peasant, a farmer sows corn, and that corn is selected again and chooses the cobs he likes the most for the following year, or that corn is hybridized with the corns of its neighbors in the community, there is still diversification, there is still a selection of new varieties of Creole corn.”
The secretary assured the Mexican public that, despite drought conditions in some regions caused by climate change, there is no need for concern about the supply of non-GMO white corn. He explained that recent rains in other parts of the country, particularly in central Mexico, have guaranteed the continued cultivation of white corn.
“This year, fortunately, the fellow producers of Jalisco and Michoacán have colleague María Luisa Albores and me every day, informing us that we have a lot of corn, and we They ask us to buy more corn at a guaranteed price.”
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is confident that Mexican producers will supply ample non-GMO white corn, with Berdegué stating, “In this country we will never plant transgenic corn.”
According to the 2022 Agricultural Census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), small corn producers with land sizes ranging from 1 to 5 hectares market up to 81.8% of their production.
