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As an agricultural giant, Mexico grows a lot of food. But their domestic consumption habits have been shifting in recent decades, as is true of most developed nations. But incoming President Sheinbaum has a new vision. She wants to go back to the 1980s in a return to the basics. 

Mexican agriculture

As such, the new Mexican agriculture plan is set to change the way Mexican farmers and food producers do business. What this may look like for the domestic market and Mexico’s substantial export market is anyone’s guess. But big changes are coming. And that’s what we’re about to explore.

Mexican Agriculture

Many people know that Mexico is a manufacturing giant. Their manufactured exports help make Mexico the top US trading partner. But what many do not realize is that a large percentage of that trade comes in the form of agricultural products. Indeed, Mexican agriculture is one of the country’s largest industries, employing millions of workers and contributing billions of dollars in export revenue. 

  • Mexico is the world’s largest exporter of avocados.
  • Mexico is the world’s largest producer of limes.
  • Mexico is the world’s largest producer of chilies.
  • Mexico is the world’s largest exporter of fresh tomatoes.
  • As the world’s second-largest producer of organic coffee, the crop is grown in several Mexican states.
  • Mexico is one of the world’s major producers of mangos, corn, tequila, papaya, bananas, and others.
  • Mexico is the birthplace of chocolate and a major exporter of cacao.

Mexico’s agricultural sector is diverse and highly active on the international scene. Farming and agriculture employ approximately 13% of the nation’s workforce, making it a huge economic driver. And with a rich agricultural tradition going back thousands of years, farming is also part of the Mexican culture and identity. As such, the country is serious about remaining a global leader in this sector for many years to come.

The New Plan

Mexico’s recent election made Claudia Sheinbaum the country’s next president. And when she took office on October 1st, she brought with her a love for the nostalgic ways of Mexico prior to the 21st century. And one of her priorities has been to return the way Mexicans eat and grow food back to the more traditional methods and diet of decades past. 

In fact, some have said of the new Mexican agriculture plan that it aims to return Mexico’s food and agriculture to the 1980s. Back then, Mexicans ate far more beans and tortillas and other basic agricultural products. This stands in contrast to the more modernized landscape of Mexico’s diet, which includes far more packaged foods, snack foods, and imported goods.

In fact, much of what Sheinbaum is pushing for is food sovereignty. “It’s about producing what we eat,” she said, when announcing her new policy initiative. She went on to summarize it by stating, “It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips.”

And bean tacos are just the beginning. The government’s new plan aims to increase domestic production of beans by 30% in the next six years. Mexico currently imports a lot of the beans they eat, and Sheinbaum wants to change that. Her plan even seeks to establish research centers to supply higher yielding bean seeds to farmers.

A cornerstone of the new Mexican agriculture plan is also the revamping of Mexico’s government food stores. Back in the 1980s, Mexicans bought much of their ingredients – foods like beans, instant coffee, cheap cocoa, and tortillas – at government-owned and government-subsidized stores.  Sheinbaum aims to bring these stores back, along with the cheaper prices for basic, more traditional foods and ingredients.

This is in combination with a newly announced ban on school sales of “junk food” – including salty or fried, processed snacks, sweetened beverages, and soft drinks. And this Mexico-centric focus mirrors Mexico’s goals of switching to renewable energy and energy sovereignty. Mexico wants more of Mexico for Mexicans. 

Criticisms

But the new Mexican agriculture plan isn’t without its critics. While banning junk food sounds good, other forms of prohibition have only increased Mexicans’ desire to consume those forbidden things. For example, in spite of a ten-year-old ban on advertising junk food to children, Mexican juveniles continue to consume alarming amounts of Coca-Cola.

And while Sheinbaum longs for a return to when Mexicans drank cheap, instant coffee, more Mexicans are switching to the premium varieties grown right there in their own country – a form of food sovereignty she might not have intended. Perhaps as a result of declining poverty, Mexicans are developing a taste for higher-end coffee.

Likewise, Mexico is known for cocoa, but not the fine bars of chocolate the rest of the developed world enjoys. They primarily consume cocoa in hot beverages and export raw cacao for refinement elsewhere. And those exports have dropped off dramatically since the 1980s, due to plant diseases and waning investment. So, how will Sheinbaum’s new plan reverse this trend?

Likewise, Mexicans don’t eat as many beans as they used to, with some estimating the amount of beans Mexicans consume annually at half what they consumed in 1980. How will she turn this long-term trend around?

Nevertheless, with new policies in place to reduce the price of tortillas by 10%, increase production of beans by 30%, and bring back government subsidies of certain foods, Mexico’s agricultural landscape is set to change in the near future. Perhaps a little, perhaps a lot. But while this may not be as dramatic a shift as intended, there will likely be a renewed emphasis on those agricultural products Mexico is known for: corn, beans, cocoa, etc. 

And these changes will likely impact domestic markets far more than Mexico’s export markets. But those who sell agricultural products to Mexico may also notice a shift in demand trends. It really just depends on Mexico’s appetite for change.

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