Mexico's government has not met its commitment to enforce its agreed-upon price for farmers, who are forced to sell to an oligopsony of corporations, intermediaries and wholesale operators.

This article by Braulio Carbajal originally appeared in the December 10, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

While thousands of small bean producers face ruin and are forced to sell their harvest for even less than 10 pesos per kilogram, a handful of large packers, intermediaries, and wholesale market operators accumulate extraordinary profits by buying cheap and selling dear on the shelf, taking advantage of the desperation of farmers and the lack of response from the government, said Víctor Quintana, a specialist in agricultural issues.

In an interview, Quintana described these intermediaries as an “oligopsony,” meaning a market structure where there are a very small number of buyers who profit from the needs and urgency of the farmers.

He pointed out that 2.5-kilogram packages of beans from large packing companies such as Verde Valle, Cazerola, La Gran Cosecha, among others, are sold in supermarkets for up to 139 pesos, well above the nine or 12 pesos per kilogram that are paid to producers, which has sparked discontent and mobilizations in several states such as Zacatecas, Chihuahua and Durango.

With a harvest this season exceeding 700,000 tons, low prices, constant imports from the United States, and a lack of support, the specialist explained, the government has not been able to enforce the agreed-upon guaranteed price of 27 pesos per kilo, causing desperation among farmers, who have been pressured by middlemen.

“The middlemen offer a price and get paid immediately, which benefits them. The producers, who are struggling because they have to pay loans and the seed supplier and the fuel distributor, find themselves squeezed and forced to sell to them at whatever price they want,” he explained.

Quintana emphasized that there are 629,000 bean producers in Mexico, 80 percent of whom cultivate between one and five hectares. Following the spring-summer growing season, and thanks to good rains, there are 700,000 tons of beans in good condition; however, collection centers are not open, and the price paid by intermediaries is very low, while all indications suggest that the government’s purchasing capacity will be only 70,000 tons.

This amount represents only 10 percent of the total harvest, which is insufficient to regulate the market, the specialist said, since for that to happen the government needs to buy at least 40 percent, but there are no resources.

In this context, he said, large packing companies, intermediaries, and wholesale market operators take advantage of the situation to collude: “They are an oligopsony; these companies agree to set a price ceiling and not raise prices beyond it, and since they don’t have a strong competitor, like Conasupo used to be, they don’t care. They simply tell you: ‘Sell to Alimentación para el Bienestar, we’ll see if they can buy everything that’s produced, we’ll see when they pay you.’ They profit from the need.”

The farmers’ need is so urgent, Quintana explained, that in some states there are reports of them taking over toll booths, and instead of paying the toll, they are offering two kilos of beans for 150 pesos. “That is, they are asking for the toll fee in exchange for two kilos of beans, but people are so generous that some are even offering them up to 500 pesos.”

According to the specialist, it is urgent that the support for agriculture that was eliminated during the last six years be returned, since this neglect is the reason why everything has been left in the hands of a few companies that profit from the needs of thousands of small producers.

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