On Oct 13 2021 Mexico’s Supreme Court ratified into law a bill that bans permit’s to sow GM corn, a move that is said to protect a story that began almost 6,800 years ago in the Balsas River Valley of southwest Mexico, where indigenous peoples first began to domesticate teosinte grass and thus developed what we know today as corn or maíz.
This move was swiftly followed up by multiple law suits from the purveyors of patented seeds who’s products fetch billions in annual revenue. Currently over 92% of corn farmers purchase their seeds from the Mega Corps who are taking the Mexican Government to court. Thankfully, a second measure added to the bill gives the power to judges in a class action lawsuit to dictate any precautionary measure necessary to protect the rights of a collective.
All 59 varieties that are native to the area are still grown today, but they are at risk of extinction due to contamination from GM seeds which may travel to fields they were not planted in.
Farmer’s Support The Move, Will Grow What People Want To Buy
The ban was expected to be on the receiving end of platitudes of backlash from American farmers who provide the majority of corn to the region. Instead the nation has been receiving support from their northern neighbours:
“We believe that Mexico has every right to ask for what it wants,” says Lynn Clarkson, chief executive of the Clarkson Grain company, based in Illinois. “As a supplier, the United States should give its customers what they want”, the farmer told La Jornada .
Bill Freese, science policy adviser at the Center for Food Safety, is more outspoken. “It is scandalous that the United States is trying to force Mexico to accept transgenic corn with glyphosate residue,” he commented in an interview with La Jornada .
“We think that the United States should stop bullying Mexico to import this type of corn. Mexico is a sovereign country that must decide what to import or not.”
Benefits Across The Border
Additionally, a move to non-GM corn may have domestic improvements for American farming regions as non-GM corn requires a labour input that would revitalize small towns that used to revolve around corn production. Organic farming methods have been rapidly replaced by chemical and mechanical methods that have depleted the necessity of farming communities. A move to regenerative methods would see communities being created where they once flourished.
In any case, American Farmers will need to do something, as production of non-GM corn has taken off in regions such as Brazil and Russia since the ban first started getting traction. In 2015 a report concluded that such a ban would be fundamental in preserving the heritage maize that is a staple crop for Indigenous people, and global production of non-GM corn has been increasing ever since.
Still, all of this will hinge on the multiple law suits under way. As these corporations grit their teeth to try to hang on to their corn monopoly, under the guise of care and compassion, once again.
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