Mexico GMO corn deal applauded by NCGA

Source: National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) news release

The National Corn Growers Association is expressing optimism after Mexico rescinded portions of a decree that banned genetically modified corn.

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the U.S. exported $5.6 billion worth of corn to Mexico in 2024, making it the largest export market for U.S. corn. Image credit - Mark Stebnicki

The development is an outgrowth of corn grower advocacy that led to a dispute panel that ruled in late December last year that Mexico had violated its commitments under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement when it banned the imports.

"We are encouraged by today's development and pleased by the impact of corn grower advocacy," said Illinois farmer and NCGA President Kenneth Hartman Jr . "Mexico must comply with the report and eliminate all measures that ban or restrict the trade of genetically modified corn."

The settlement process is still ongoing, Hartman noted.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador first set off alarms in the Corn Belt in December 2020 when he initiated a decree to ban genetically modified corn by the end of 2024. At the time, NCGA began outreach to the Trump administration to head off the ban. Those efforts continued with the Biden administration as well as with members of Congress and Mexican officials.

The organization's leaders argued that the ban would significantly harm growers and rural communities, especially because Mexico is the number one export destination for U.S. corn.

NCGA's efforts intensified in 2023 when the Mexican president issued a decree banning genetically modified white corn, effective the following day. NCGA and state corn grower groups responded by pushing USTR to file a dispute settlement under USMCA, which it eventually did.