Clashing visions of Mexico's GMO corn ban cloud impact
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[July 08, 2021]
By David Alire Garcia
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A clash at the top
of Mexico's agriculture ministry over the scope of President Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador's push to prohibit genetically-modified corn has
cast uncertainty over the farm and food industries in the country that
first developed the grain.
If liberally interpreted and successfully implemented, the new rules
could ban imports of GMO corn by 2024, ending a dependence that last
year stood at some 16 million tonnes of imported yellow corn, almost all
of it from American farmers and used to feed Mexico's massive livestock
sector.
A more restrictive interpretation of the planned ban could allow GMO
corn for animal feed – and save the U.S. exports.
Agriculture Minister Victor Villalobos believes animal feed will not
ultimately be covered by the ban, according to an official with
knowledge of the minister's thinking. Earlier this year Villalobos
assured U.S. agriculture chief Tom Vilsack that imported GMO corn for
animal feed will be exempted.
However, there are signs that Villalobos and his moderate allies have
not yet won that battle and may be losing.
The planned restrictions were outlined on Dec. 31 in a presidential
decree. It was ambiguously worded - the result of behind-scenes
wrangling between factions in the agriculture ministry, one headed by
the minister and the other by his deputy, according to three sources
with knowledge of the matter.
Six months later, amid contradictory comments by the opposing factions,
Lopez Obrador has not committed one way of the other, and farmers and
food processors remain on tenterhooks.
In the anti-GMO corner, Villalobos' deputy, leftist former congressman
Victor Suarez pitches "agroecological" farming and routinely rails
against big agribusiness. His faction's influence led to the decree,
which shocked industry by ruling GMO corn could not be used "in the diet
of Mexicans" after 2024.
Suarez has said animal feed, and therefore large GMO imports, will be
prohibited.
In another sign of the influence of his vein of thinking in the
administration, sources close to health regulator COFEPRIS said its
leadership is aligned with Suarez. The agency has since late 2018 halted
all approvals for new GMO corn varieties sought by top seed companies
like Germany's Bayer and U.S.-based Corteva.
And Villalobos, a market-friendly scientist who has long championed
biotech crops, made an unsuccessful attempt to soften the decree before
it was published, another senior ministry official said.
The agriculture ministry declined multiple requests to make Villalobos
available for an interview. Suarez declined to discuss any differences
with Villalobos.
Over a dozen Mexican farm industry leaders consulted by Reuters said
they were increasingly concerned that the GMO ban would apply to animal
feed despite Villalobos' assurances.
The text of the decree specifies that the agriculture, environment and
health ministries as well as a science council Conacyt will interpret
it, and officials in charge of the latter three are all believed by
several industry leaders to be sympathetic to Suarez's views. None of
the agencies involved responded to requests for comment. Juan Cortina,
president of the National Farm Council (CNA)lobby, said there is no
clarity on what they will decide. It is "totally wrong" to assume corn
imports for livestock will be exempted, he said. "The most sensitive
aspect of this is whether or not it will apply to animal feed," he
added.
INDUSTRY WORRIED
Lopez Obrador said this month he may seek out additional corn imports to
keep a lid on creeping prices for corn tortillas, the country's main
staple, underscoring an overarching sensitivity for the leftist leader.
But the industry is right to be worried: Lopez Obrador has a track
record of confounding critics and taking drastic steps in line with his
nationalist, big business-skeptic views. Despite assurances to industry
from moderates in his cabinet, he scrapped a $13 billion partially-built
airport project and has moved to increase state control of the energy
sector.
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A farmer holds different types of corn cobs in Otzolotepec, on the
outskirts of Mexico City, February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/File
Photo
"The agriculture minister just doesn't agree with the
president's instructions," according to the second senior official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the internal
discord.
The ministry declined to comment about the clashes.
An official close to Villalobos said such policy differences were a
normal part of government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in a January report took note of
Mexican health regulator COFEPRIS' failure to approve new GMO
permits – for corn or any other crops – since Lopez Obrador took
office nearly three years ago.
Mexico's top farm lobby CNA has pointed to at least eight
newly-developed varieties of GMO corn sought by companies that are
pending.
Industry sources say big grain buyers in Mexico such as global
commodities giant Cargill could be forced as soon as next year to
find new U.S. suppliers as existing ones begin to plant and harvest
the newer corn varieties.
Corn imports will not affected this year by the regulatory freeze on
new seed approvals, according to an executive with a top grains
trader in Mexico, but he said it remains unclear how the flow could
be impacted in subsequent years depending on how officials address
what he described as "ambiguities" in the decree's text.
GMO bans have vocal support from activists in Mexico, the birthplace
of modern corn. The activists have for years blasted
already-detected GMO contamination in fields planted with native
strains of the grain.
The possibility of a broad GMO ban, twinned with a more fully-formed
policy to prohibit the widely-used weed killer glyphosate, has been
lauded by environmental groups such as Greenpeace.
Under Lopez Obrador, more decision making goes through the
president, and regulators under his control have broad authority to
limit imports.
There is no deadline for Lopez Obrador to take a decision beyond the
2024 end-date for the ban specified in the decree and it is not
clear when he will do so.
Until he decides, the future will remain unclear for Mexico's $12
billion livestock sector, which has over years preferred imported
U.S. yellow corn due to significant logistical and cost advantages.
Two years ago, Senator Jesusa Rodriguez, a Suarez ally from Lopez
Obrador's MORENA party, proposed a ban on non-native corn varieties.
Lopez Obrador ultimately opposed the idea on fears it would cause
corn prices to soar, according to a source who attended a pivotal
meeting with the president.
Industry hopes the same argument will ultimately prevail even as
backers like Rodriguez continue to push for bold action to turn the
page on agrochemicals and gene-spliced crops in order to embrace a
more sustainable farming future.
"There shouldn't be anything that stops it," she said of the decree.
(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Additional reporting by Adriana
Barrera; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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