For over 30 years, U.S. agricultural dumping of cheap exports has harmed Mexico’s food self-sufficiency and economic growth. Between 2014 and 2020, dumping cost corn and wheat producers nearly $6 billion in crop value. Since 2000, Mexico’s costs of importing corn, wheat, beans and rice jumped from $979M to $7.2B.
It’s difficult to stimulate domestic production when farm prices are depressed by unfair trade. The new administration has thus rebuilt the basic infrastructure for rural Mexican farming, partly through production price support subsidization, which “is the one government program that directly addresses dumping by offering Mexican farmer domestic prices that are profitable.”
Nevertheless, the policy has produced mixed results, partly due to trying to service both small-scale and medium-sized producers. Consider then allowing private insurers to offer analytics-savvy insurance to mid-tier farmers, while founding an auction/futures platform for storing and distributing excess crops. Elegant technological solutions would be offered while freeing up resources to better assist small-scale growers.
