Monsanto isn’t likely to get a green light to bring GMO corn seeds into Mexico anytime soon, says Reuters. Last week, the country upheld a 2013 Mexican court decision that banned even test plots of GMO corn in Mexico, because of concerns that the genetically modified varieties might contaminate native corn species through cross-pollination.
Mexico is the birthplace of modern corn, which was domesticated there roughly 8,000 years ago. Mexico relies heavily on U.S. yellow-corn imports to feed its livestock industry, while white corn is largely grown domestically and used in staple food like tortillas.
Several years ago, Monsanto applied to plant two 700,000-acre test plots of GMO corn in the northern state of Sinaloa but it never got approval. Now it’s pursuing “nano-corn,” a conventional hybrid variety that is supposedly 20 percent more productive and is about a year and half away from market.
But Mexico continues to refuse the company, adding that if Trump cancels the North American Free Trade Agreement, as he’s said he might, Mexico will turn to South American trading partners like Argentina for corn. But such purchases would also come with steeper transportation costs.