COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio farmers may look to grow different crops and sell them to different markets after the Mexican government announced it will stop importing certain U.S.-grown corn.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the decision is based on the potential health impacts of consuming genetically-modified corn.
Meanwhile, the United States Trade Representative said it is requesting formal talks with the Mexican government to resolve the issue.
“The United States has repeatedly conveyed our serious concerns with Mexico’s biotechnology policies and the importance of adopting a science-based approach that complies with its USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement] commitments,” Ambassador Katherine Tai said in a release. "Mexico’s policies threaten to disrupt billions of dollars in agricultural trade and they will stifle the innovation that is necessary to tackle the climate crisis and food security challenges if left unaddressed. We hope these consultations will be productive as we continue to work with Mexico to address these issues.”
In that same release, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Mexico's decision is not based on science.
“Mexico is an important partner, and we remain committed to maintaining and strengthening our economic and trade ties. A robust, transparent agricultural trading relationship, founded on rules and science, is vital to ensuring food security, mitigating the lingering effects of food price inflation, and helping to address the climate crisis. Innovations in agricultural biotechnology play a key role in advancing these critical, global objectives,” Vilsack said. “While we appreciate the sustained, active engagement with our Mexican counterparts at all levels of government, we remain firm in our view that Mexico’s current biotechnology trajectory is not grounded in science, which is the foundation of USMCA.”
Ohio sits among the top 10 corn-producing states and farmers may be financially hurt by Mexico's decision.
John Linder, a corn farmer in Morrow County and a member of the Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association said farmers may want to diversify the crops they grow.
"If I were raising white corn for food use and shipping it to Mexico and knowing that Mexico's talking about not using it next year, I would be considering going to the yellow corn and stop raising the white corn this year, trying to find the seed to raise marketable corn domestically and everywhere else in the world that accepts our practices. So that really is how we land in a precarious situation. We could lower the supply of white corn if individual operations decide to not plant white corn and plant yellow corn. That just diminishes the exportable supply of that white food-grade corn," Linder said.
Agriculture expert Andy Vance discussed the topic in this week's edition of the Ag Report.
"If Mexico doesn't relent, then they'll go into a formal dispute situation. That dispute process could end up with the United States levying tariffs on the import of Mexican-produced goods, so there are a really formal trade process, but in essence, there's about $3 billion worth of U.S. corn exports on the line as part of this dispute," Vance said.