This article by María del Pilar Martínez originally appeared in the May 21, 2026 edition of El Economista.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced an agreement between producers, marketers, input suppliers, and federal and state governments to regulate the corn market and guarantee a fair price for producers, after warning that the country faced the risk of a crisis in the agricultural sector due to falling prices and drought.
During the signing of the agreement for the creation of the System for the Organization of Production and Marketing of white corn “Fair Price”, the president explained that the agreement arose after several meetings promoted by the businesswoman Altagracia Gómez.
“Today we are guaranteeing a fair price, thanks to all of you; that a ton of corn can be sold at a fair price for the producers,” he said. He emphasized that it is also a voluntary agreement.
The President explained that producers were accumulating debt after at least two years of drought and due to the drop in the international price of corn, a situation that caused the cost of production to exceed the selling price.
“It costs a little over 6,000 pesos to produce a ton and it was being sold for 5,200 pesos in the market,” she explained.
In addition to the price collapse, she pointed out that there was another problem: the buying companies had already filled their inventories with cheaper imported corn, leaving domestic producers with no possibility of marketing their harvests.
Because of this scenario, the federal government convened producers, buyers, seed, fertilizer and pesticide companies, as well as state governments, to build a joint support scheme.
Mexican farmers have held large national strikes over the past eight months, demanding protection for Mexican agriculture.
The new system has two pillars: advance marketing by contract and the construction of a system for selling inputs at fair prices.
The first involves making advance purchases at a fair price before each corn harvest, through contracts freely agreed between the various actors in the production chain.
Purchasing companies will prioritize the acquisition and consumption of domestic white corn before resorting to imports.
In addition, companies will participate in production and marketing planning mechanisms to strengthen certainty, improve purchasing scheduling, and promote orderly marketing.
The second implies that agro-industries and suppliers of strategic inputs (seeds, fertilizers and agricultural inputs) will make direct sales at a fair price, aimed at producers with the objective of strengthening productivity, profitability and technological innovation.
The new scheme is expected to facilitate the marketing of up to seven million tons of white corn produced in key states such as Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Tlaxcala, Campeche and Sinaloa.
More than 61,000 producers participate, along with the main flour mills, the largest marketing companies, and the nixtamalizing plants, which represent more than 80% of the formal marketing of white corn.
Also participating are more than 80 companies, both national and foreign, that supply inputs, both individually and grouped in organizations such as AMSAC, PROCCYT, SEMUAC, UMFFAAC and ANACOFER.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit also participated in the design of the agreement, with the aim of providing certainty to the entire production chain.
“The White Corn Production and Marketing System, ‘Fair Price’, as a mechanism, allows collaboration between producers, buyers, suppliers of strategic inputs and the Government of Mexico,” said Columba Jazmín López Gutiérrez, head of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, Altagracia Gómez Sierra, coordinator of the Regional Economic Development and Relocation Advisory Council (CADERR), stated that the signing broke several paradigms, such as the idea that livestock consumers could not sit at the same table as millers and flour producers.
“It was said that we couldn’t talk about fair prices, only market prices,” said the president of the board of directors of Minsa, a flour company that is part of the agreement.
For its part, the Agricultural Markets Consulting Group (GCMA) reported that the agreement on the System for the Organization of Production and Marketing of White Corn reflects a relevant change in agricultural policy by resuming mechanisms aimed at providing certainty of income and profitability to the producer.
Juan Carlos Anaya, CEO of GCMA and advisor to the meat company SuKarne (a participant in the agreement), said that the model proposes that the government act as a facilitator of a minimum income through price hedging and climate insurance to reduce the volatility that the sector faces.
According to the organization’s analysis, this structure allows consumer companies to plan their purchases of domestic crops in advance at market prices.
The GCMA indicates that the scheme seeks the integration of production chains and the strengthening of domestic supply.
“The success of the system depends on guaranteeing the marketing of national harvests in states with production surpluses and avoiding displacement due to imports,” Anaya concluded.
Key Aspects of the New Price Ranking System
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Advance marketing by contract: Advance purchases of corn at a fair price before each harvest, with contracts agreed between the actors of the production chain; the buying companies will prioritize national white corn.
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Sale of inputs at a fair price: agro-industries and suppliers of strategic inputs (seeds, fertilizers, agricultural inputs) will make direct sales at a fair price to producers to strengthen productivity and profitability.
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Mechanism for protecting white corn and its price: A mechanism will be implemented to protect white corn and its price for producers; a single digitized register of producers and areas will be used.
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