Seed Freedom: India And Mexico Challenge GMO Monopolies With Farmer-Led Solutions

“Mexico is a beacon for the world, through which we can see not only the ancestral culture of food, but also the future.”

Indian ecofeminist philosopher, author, and food sovereignty activist Dr. Vandana Shiva gave a talk In Defense of Food Sovereignty with clarity and passion at The Mexican Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in support of a Mexican protection policy against transgenic corn for tortillas.

In February 2023, President Lopez Obrero announced the ban on American transgenic corn to protect native varieties and support the Indigenous farmers who have cultivated them for generations. 

However, this decision has resulted in trade disputes between the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. claims Mexico is violating the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and established a Dispute Panel In August 2023. 

According to American Ambassador to Mexico Katherine Tai, the purpose of the panel is to ensure that “Mexico eliminate[s] its USMCA-inconsistent biotechnology measures so that American farmers can continue to access the Mexican market and use innovative tools to respond to climate and food security challenges.”

The United States exported $13.1 billion in corn in 2023, $5.4 billion of which went to Mexico. In November 20204, if Mexico is found to violate trade agreements, they will have 45 days to resolve the issue, or the U.S. can implement a similar trade restriction. 

However, Mexico has already banned the cultivation of GMO seeds since 2013, and plans to phase out GMO corn for human and eventually animal consumption in order to use Indigenous varieties and embrace food sovereignty.

‍

What Is Food Sovereignty? 

Food sovereignty is the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces,  general director for the National Council of Humanities, Sciences, and Technologies, said "food sovereignty is the basis of our national sovereignty." She has extensively studied the effect of transgenic corn on ecosystems and believes it is possible to have higher yields and environmental benefits through replacing GMO corn imports with locally-grown native corn.

American agribusiness corporations have implemented Green Revolution technology in both India and Mexico since the 1960’s, with features such as transgenic seeds, chemical herbicides and pesticides, and modern machinery. Dr. Shiva criticizes the Green Revolution as a form of neo-colonialism that turns seeds, a natural free resource, into a patented commodity.

“I call it food fascism. From one day to the next, the food that we had always grown, in some way, became illegal. That is what could happen to the corn sellers,” Dr. Shiva said. “They want to make food a consumer good, but food is the key to life.”

Currently, saving patented transgenic seeds for commercial use is prohibited in the United States by most seed companies, such as Monsanto-Bayer, Syngenta, and Corteva, who patent their seeds under intellectual property laws. This forces farmers to purchase more seeds each year. American farmers paid just under $60 billion in 2023 for seeds alone and prices are expected to continue inflating. 

‍

Who Does Free Trade Benefit?  

With the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and the U.S.-India Knowledge Initiative on Agricultural Education, Teaching, Research, Service, and Commercial Linkages in 2006, Mexico and India imported more biotech such as GMO seeds and new pesticides from these agribusinesses.

“Before the price of the seed was zero. When biotech cotton arrived, it started at 5 rupees per kilo and from there it has multiplied to almost 4 thousand rupees. Little by little, they have been forcing farmers to buy on credit, and in a few years they take away their land due to debt,” said Dr. Shiva.

In India, around 400,000 farmers have died by suicide between 1995 and 2018. Dr. Shiva argues that the farmer debt accumulated by these trade agreements are driving the suicides. While biotech technologies result in high yields in the first years, the soil later becomes compact and leached of nutrients, requiring expensive yearly purchases of chemical inputs in order to continue steady output. Countries around the globe are beginning to rebel against the financial pressures placed on farmers under these trade agreements. 

“Right now, as we are in this meeting, there are protests in India for fair seed prices,” Dr. Shiva said. “For weeks we have seen protests in Latvia, Germany, France, Scotland and Greece; also in Spain and Italy, as if a new country was added every day.”

‍

Cultivating Old Seeds For New Solutions

‍Dr. Shiva advocates for Indigenous and campesino technology and knowledge, naming the cornfield itself as a place of resistance. The Mexican milpa, for example, is a sustainable system that grows crops like corn, beans, chili peppers, squash, quelites and amaranth together. It serves as a model of agro-ecological innovation where farmers can continue to naturally breed climate-resistant varieties of corn that will remain widely accessible to all. 

Colectivo Maya de los Chenes member Leydy Pech played a pivotal role in halting the importation of Monsanto-Bayer soybean seeds into Mexico in 2017. Also known as the Guardian of the Bees, she affirmed caring for Native corn varieties in lieu with the organization Sin Maiz, No Hay Pais (Without Corn, There is No Country). 

“In my native language, we say that they are heartless seeds. They do not have life because our seeds have life,” Pech said. “They have been from generation to generation. We have cared for and preserved them. It is what has allowed us to live and be in our towns and territories to this day.”

‍

Learn More 

• Read more about free trade agreement impacts on farmers The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming by Tony Weis. 
• To learn more about Dr. Vandana Shiva’s, check out Navdanya International.