Introduction
As some of my readers and subscribers may know, I myself am a big gardener. In the summer it is common to see me in one of my garden plots weeding, watering, or just wandering about before and after work. One of the main features within my garden is that all of the varieties I grow are heirloom varieties. Out of all the crops that I grow I am often most proud and covetous of my corn plots. I often save seed from my corn and am very analytical with how I plan to prevent cross pollination from neighboring sweet corn or conventional grain fields.
Some of the varieties I have in my collection are hundreds or potentially thousands of years old. They produce true seed and are relatively consistent at yielding good results for me (at least in the past 3-4 years). I often am fascinated with the cultures that have utilized corn as a staple grain within their diet and the different ways in which they cultivate food given their environments.
For those who do not know, corn originated in what is now South-Central Mexico. Corn is the domesticated product of its wild ancestor known as teosinte. If you look at the original grain head of the teosinte plant and compare it to what is commonly grown today it is almost unfathomable to believe that such a product can be created from thousands of years of human selection.
Every region within Mexico and various regions of the United States had/have cultures which selected corn varieties that could produce in their environment. This is why you see different types of corn in the American Southwest like the Hopi corn especially when compared to the corn found in mountainous tropical villages near Oaxaca (Mexico). It is amazing what some of the indigenous varieties of corn can do and the traits that some villages may have selected either intentionally or accidentally, with some corn even being able to fix nitrogen on their own.
Before I get off on another tangent I just wanted to emphasize the point of this blog is to bring awareness to the threat in which Mexico currently faces. Just five years ago in 2020 the president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed a decree to ban the import of genetically modified corn (GM) as well as a ban on the use of glyphosate herbicide on food intended to be used for human consumption. This decree sparked a hot debate across both Mexico and the United States as Mexico is the #1 importer of US grown yellow grain corn, if they were to ban said corn it would most likely impact corn producers within the United States negatively.
While the decree was not passed and the United States won the argument just before 2025, it is still a significant concern for the long term overall genetic diversity of corn within Mexico. I still encourage greater pushback and governmental regulation of the grain which is allowed to be grown within the country if there isn’t policy on the subject already.
Although I am not in a seat of power that would allow me to have greater control of the outcome the parties involved reached, I still have a few points which justify the position of Mexico in this argument. Of those reasons, I highlighted what I believe to be the most essential relating to both cultural ties, genetic diversity of the crop, the economic incentives, overall self-reliance of Mexican villages, and the long sighted benefits of only growing traditional varieties.
1. Maintains Cultural Significance
First it goes without saying that many of the heirloom varieties of corn the people of Mexico have and continue to grow have been passed down from generation to generation in communities for hundreds or potentially thousands of years. Many of the varieties are grown in certain areas as they were adapted for said area or for a certain tradition. To remove these corn varieties for the sake of GMO varieties/higher yields not only would saturate the markets with cheap varieties of corn, but also remove the diversity, flavor, and cultural significance of the food to an area. It ends up commodifying the food and removing the connection. It would create the same cultural attitude that Americans have towards grain, making it a dime a dozen, and removing the connection of the local people from the land.
As time goes on and less people have control of the land it is becoming harder for farmers to grow varieties that were previously common instead of varieties that are easier to work with in a commercial setting. The people of Mexico risk losing much of their ancestor’s favorite types of crops in favor of convenience and higher productivity.
Quick news coverage over the topic showing farmers in Mexico and what is at risk of being lost
2. Promotes Genetic Diversity
As I previously alluded to, convenience is a slow killer for a lot of things. This issue does not skip crop genetics. The reason why crop genetic diversity is so important is that it protects crops from genetic bottle necking. When we lose these differences in biodiversity it creates choke points which are more susceptible to things like disease, inbreeding, and changes in the environment. It can potentially lead to a species going extinct in favor of another species that overlaps a niche; I don’t know how corn would be any different since it relies heavily on the aid of humans for propagation.
The benefit of Mexico having all of the varieties of corn is that it has some features or traits that are selected for over time based on the random or artificial selection of crops for thousands of years. Since corn was often traded across the Americas on foot and with limited communication between remote villages you often had large amounts of time where these groups were isolated. This allowed for the varieties to change and eventually become acclimated to an area and what the people of that region were wanting. This is why when you look at the different varieties of corn in Mexico each village seems to have its own favorite variety for specific occasions.
3. Strengthens Mexico’s Ag Economy
Mexican culture generally seems to prefer their native varieties of corn and have incorporated the use of corn into almost every meal served in the country it is safe to say that if local farmers could grow enough corn to keep up with the current demand and potential increase of human populations throughout the country, local farmers could potentially strengthen their economy. This would be due to a self-sufficient supply and demand rather than importing high quantities of GMO corn from the United States which would devalue to the price of corn per bushel locally, making the ag market similar to what it is in the United States, oversaturated.
Heirloom varieties are cherished and have their own uses and cultural ties which local people seem to crave and cherish. These varieties allow for niche markets that only they or their local village can accommodate for others across the country.
4. Protects Mexican Farmer’s Self-Reliance
Great free documentary showing the the truth behind modern seed companies
Besides the obvious economic gain from reducing or banning the import of GMO corn from the United States and its impact to the local Ag economy there is another side of self-reliance that this attempted ban would give to the Mexican farmer. This ban would allow for farmers to save their own seed legally without having to keep buying a trademarked seed type. This is often not thought of here in the United States, but it is often the norm as many people don’t grow corn that would produce predictable offspring if you replanted the seed. In some cases it would be illegal to do so as that company claims the corn’s genetics/traits as their own property.
If you do enough research into GMO or hybrid crops you often are met with an ocean of information praising GMO crops as being the savior of mankind. Many websites tout these GMOs to be preventing mass global starvation, increasing human population, and allowing for crop cultivation with less crop damage, less need for rainfall, less disease, and less needs for healthy soil. I am often skeptical of these claims as sometimes it is best to be weary of things that sound too good to be true.
5. Very Long Sighted (Ecologically and Health Wise)
I once got into a debate with a coworker about the differences between heirloom crops, hybrid crops, and GMO crops. Often times the general public (even those with agronomy degrees like my coworker) do not fully comprehend the differences between the types. I have an article outlining the differences (5 Reasons Why You Should Grow Heirloom Varieties), but I will quickly refresh your mind. An heirloom variety is a variety that has been hand selected by humans over many generations often called artificial selection. This process takes a long time to do and is usually caused by humans saving the seeds of their best crops or crops that have/had favorable traits or random genetic mutation. Heirloom varieties are generally open pollinated and produce offspring that share traits like those expressed in the parent generation.
Hybrid crops are mixtures of two different heirloom varieties and are often considered to be better yielding or better disease resistant although this depends on many different variables. The seeds from hybrid plants are often viable, but will produce offspring that is unlike that of the parent generation and is considered to be somewhat unpredictable (usually not ideal taste or productivity wise). GMO varieties on the other hand are created in a lab using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques allow for scientists to cut out desired traits from one variety then add that genetic sequence or trait to the new variety.
I will admit that GMO crops do have great benefits upfront. They allow for less application of pesticides and herbicides. They can be grown in more degraded, less nutritious soils. They require less rain. The list goes on. While I am not shy to admit where GMOs excel I will share my controversial belief that the gain of these crops will be short lived. It will raise the human population too high and cause a crash. As long as humans are stuck on Earth for food cultivation it is inevitable that we will run out of space to grow food to keep up with the growing global human population. Factor in climate catastrophes like flooding, droughts, or extreme heat, etc. and you end up back to where you started.
One cannot keep taking from the soil without giving back. Synthetic fertilizers are not enough to keep our topsoil in place and out of the water. I feel that GMO crops while advantageous now allow for further continued abuse of the land until there is nothing left. When GMOs eventually aren’t the silver bullet and are useless to normal people in the real world we will see why ancient knowledge and agricultural practices were/are important. Mexican farmers understand this. They understand the struggles their ancestors went through to create these varieties. There is purpose in everything and if these corn varieties were not special they would not continue to grow them.
Conclusion
While this piece is more of an opinion piece I still wanted to my perspective out. I feel that it is good to question the prevailing attitude of the world as it is easy to just go along with everything especially when it is being economically coerced onto you by the most powerful country in the world. I truly believe that heirloom crops are the backbone of society (as a whole) and people for that matter. The days of being hunters and gatherers are over for 99% of the world and have been for thousands of years. We are an agriculture based species.
When GMO’s stop working at the conventional scale it will be those who know the power of these heirloom varieties that will prevail, we understand that efficiency isn’t everything and that nothing in nature is ever perfect. The concepts of perfection and productivity are subjective; it is about doing what is best for your land and taking care of it, not how much you can control it to do what you want. It is about growing crops that are meant to be there, not forcing them to exist and changing the world to work for you.
While I am sure most of you do not share this ideology I hope you learned something new or at least gained a new perspective. I know that this is a debated topic and there is a lot of misinformation on the subject. I am not going to sit here and say that GMO foods are the devil, but I am also not going to sit here and say that we 100% know that there is no negative long term impacts to both our bodies or the Earth from relying on these crops so extensively. Only time will tell for that.
