Mexico will not bound GMO corn imports from U.S; Victor Villalobos

During a meeting with US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Iowa on Wednesday, Mexico’s agriculture minister stated that the country would not restrict imports of genetically modified (GMO) corn from the US.

Late last year, Mexico issued an executive order aiming to restrict the use of GMO corn for human consumption in three years, but it did not specify which items would be included, causing confusion in the agriculture industry. By 2024, the government plans to replace imports with domestic production.

After China, Mexico is the second-largest buyer of American corn. Mexico’s Agriculture Minister, Victor Villalobos, stated that the cultivation of GMO corn would be prohibited, but that imports from the United States would be permitted.

“We will continue requiring and demanding yellow corn from the United States,” he told reporters. He said Mexico depended on yellow corn “for agro industries.”

Seeds are the next thing the Department of Agriculture will look into as part of a Biden administration order on competition, according to Vilsack.

The administration plans to take a look at the seed industry and “why it’s structured the way it’s structured,” Vilsack said. “You wonder whether these long patents make sense.” Genetically engineered seeds and herbicides are developed by businesses like Bayer AG (DE: BAYGN) and Corteva (NYSE: CTVA) Inc, which can only be produced once a patent expires.

In the United States, Bayer (OTC: BAYRY), which acquired Monsanto (NYSE: MON) in 2016, has long dominated. Requests for comment from Bayer and Corteva were not immediately returned.

Story by : Norvisi Mawunyegah