MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) — After pioneering the cultivation of corn thousands of years ago, Mexico must overcome the weight of history if it is to give the go-ahead to allow genetically modified strains.
Religion, culture and science are competing in the debate over how acceptable GM corn is in a country where farmers first domesticated the crop about 8,000 years ago.
Last month, a federal judge in Mexico City created a stir by ordering a temporary halt to any new GM corn permits, accepting a lawsuit brought by opponents of the crop.
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It was widely interpreted as a definitive ban on the commercial use of GM corn in Mexico, but experts say it will likely just delay any resolution into 2014 or beyond.
With Mexican output falling short of demand, GM backers are keen to open the door to firms such as Monsanto, which have applications pending to plant some 6.2 million acres of GM corn.
The agriculture ministry must first finish designating the “centres of origin” where GM corn farming would be banned, and set other safety regulations before permits can be issued.
And it must also wait until the legal wrangling has been settled since the federal judge sided with opponents, finding that GM corn has already been planted illegally in Mexico.
“It’s a very controversial topic,” agriculture minister Enrique Martinez said recently.
“This will have a final resolution that adheres to what the scientists decide.”
Despite its humble origins, corn is by far the planet’s most produced grain, dwarfing wheat and rice output.
Mexico now plants 17.8 million acres of corn annually. Farmers grow mostly white corn, which is used for human consumption, including the country’s staple tortillas.
Last year they produced some 21 million tonnes of corn, or about three percent of global production. But the country consumed roughly 30 million tonnes, making up the difference with U.S. imports.
Mexico already imports tens of thousands of tonnes of GM yellow corn each year, largely for animal feed, and permits planting of other GM crops, mainly cotton and soybeans.
Supporters of GM corn like Mexico’s corn farmers’ federation argue it can boost yields by up to 15 percent.
Their peers in the United States, Brazil and Argentina — the world’s top three corn exporters — are already producing large quantities.
But the crop has a unique place in Mexico. The 49 landraces of corn, or distinct strains improved over time by traditional methods, and thousands of individual varieties, are often tied to specific indigenous groups and religious ceremonies.
Scientists say modern corn comes from teosinte, a tiny wild grain native to southern Mexico.
The ancient Maya believed the gods made the first humans out of corn, after rejecting earlier clay and wood forms.
“The women and men of corn saw as much as the gods,” reads the Popol Vuh, the sacred text of the Maya, who still live in Mexico. “Their glance ranged over the whole world.”
In 2009, during the previous administration of president Felipe Calderon, changes to Mexico’s bio-safety law allowed biotech crop developers for the first time to experiment with GM corn trials in approved regions of Mexico.
Since then, dozens of pilot permits have tested GM corn strains for their tolerance to herbicides as well as resistance to insects and drought. But Calderon left office without approving large-scale GM corn plantings.
Those corn permits could have been approved as early as February, but the change of government led to a delay.
GM corn backers like Alejandro Monteagudo of industry lobby AgroBIO, argue Mexico has no reason to fear tinkering with DNA in search of larger yields and hardier plants.
“The government’s biosecurity measures allow us to be calm that (commercial GM corn plantings) are done legally and with no impact on the environment or biodiversity,” he said.
But opponents say Monsanto’s proprietary seeds essentially privatize corn production and threaten age-old farming practices by making farmers buy new GM seeds rather than harvest them from Mexico’s current crops.
Unsurprisingly, they applaud the judge’s ruling last month.
“This decision is unprecedented,” said Aleira Lara, the head of Green-peace Mexico’s sustainable agriculture campaign.
Greenpeace, which is not a party to the case, will immediately file a separate suit if the agriculture ministry approves any permits as the court case proceeds, Lara said.
The extended political and legal fight leaves five applications for commercial-scale GM fields in limbo.
