• CHANGE: The López Obrador Administration will defund most of the Mexican programs supporting medium and large scale farmers starting in 2020 drastically changing agricultural policy towards one centered around supporting small low income producers.
• GROWTH: According to an analysis by Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agrícolas (GCMA), most of the government programs supporting medium and large scale harvesting will fall from USD 345 million in 2019 to just USD 6.6 million in the 2020 federal budget.
• SELF-SUFFICIENCY: Giving precedence to small scale farmers is a key element from the López Obrador Administration’s agenda to achieve self-sufficiency in basic grains. Several experts however this is still a long term goal given the logistical and scarcity of resources.
• US PRIORITY: Just after Canada, Mexico is the second export market for US agriculture with a total value of USD 19 billion in 2018. Among US agricultural products that have Mexico as its top destination are corn, rice, poultry, eggs and dairy. No drastic changes are expected soon.
