MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Mexican farmers are facing serious seed shortages, according to a report from the Foreign Agriculture Service. The shortage is due to a negative ruling by the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources who concluded that genetically enhanced (GE) cotton seed could intermix with traditional wild cotton populations, thus leading to a loss of indigenous varieties in Mexico. Though wild cotton populations are not found in the Northern part of Mexico, where the majority of the country’s acres are planted, the ruling has caused concern for growers who have very little access to conventional alternatives. Mexico has approved four commercial GE varieties in the past, but are well behind the curve of other countries in the Americas – like Brazil, which has approved and made available 21 different events for its producers. This comes on the heels of a November 2019 ban on glyphosate. As Mexico appears to be heading toward an agroecological policy, this total ban on the use of glyphosate is expected to increase the cost for manual labor, alternative pest protection, and disease solutions for producers. All of the glyphosate used in the past by Mexico has been imported and cotton production represents 5 percent of annual usage of the weed-killing technology.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)