Mexico’s agrifood sector is preparing a public policy proposal to counter “the crisis” in the countryside, Juan Cortina Gallardo, president of the National Council of Agriculture (CNA), said on Tuesday.

Taking stock of the Mexican countryside over the past 30 years, during the presentation of the book “Our field: the CNA and the agro-food evolution of Mexico”, Cortina Gallardo affirmed that the field faces challenges such as high prices of primary inputs, cereals and efficient use of water.

The Chairman of the Council, which includes more than 2 million growers in the country, also added sustainability, lack of labor and recent friction created by the government of Texas, United States, which affected the transfer of goods across the border, which he summed up as “an election issue”.

“We have to understand that in Mexico and the United States we are entering an election period and this will unfortunately be the relationship between Mexico and the United States. I went through some sensitive times,” he said.

Although he pointed out that a new public policy that improves the conditions of the Mexican primary sector is still being developed, he defined some solutions.

In order to stabilize grain prices and so that producers do not lose by selling their products at a less favorable exchange rate, he called for the establishment of contract farming models.

“By having contract farming, the producer can negotiate prices with whoever is going to buy his product,” he said.

The leader of the sector, which contributes 10% of the Mexican gross domestic product (GDP), estimated that temporary visas for migrants could be put in place to alleviate the problem of the lack of labor on the ground.

At the same time, he deemed it necessary to continue to improve wage levels in the country and in the agribusiness sector.

He said that the three North American countries already identify this labor problem, since 90% of agricultural workers in Canada are temporary, while in the United States the proportion is 70% and Mexico “has and already lives the same thing”.

Cortina Gallardo also underlined the importance of maintaining food security in North America, since he calculated that it will be difficult to stop depending on the importation of certain inputs such as cereals from the United States. .

The NAC President added that there is a need to modernize the field with more technology and science, as well as better techniques for the care and efficient use of water and land.

In this sense, he questioned the recent restrictions on glyphosate and the use of genetically modified grains, since it ties the hands of producers.

Mexico is the eleventh largest food producing country in the world and the seventh largest exporter.