pressures on Mexico’s agriculture industry today are high, and can only be relieved through increased efficiency and productivity. Attempts to modernize the sector have brought not only field size and machinery under the spotlight but also the kind of crops that are grown.

In 2005, congress passed legislation legalizing transgenic crops, but while more than 25 million hectares are planted worldwide, with maize as the world’s second biggest genetically-modified food, Mexico’s transgenic products currently include only soy and cotton, which are grown on just 100,000 hectares.

Attempts to make the sector more efficient are raising questions about how Mexico can adapt its choice of crops, while ensuring that domestic demands are met. The planting of transgenic crops in neighbouring countries, such as Honduras, has seen a jump in productivity that is increasingly attractive to the Mexican agricultural industry, which suffers from low production rates compared with other developing countries.

Hoping to raise awareness about the use of biotechnology in Mexican agriculture is Agrobio, an organization founded in 1999 and whose members include companies such as Aventis and DuPont. Executive Director Carlos Camacho Gaos says the organization is aimed at promoting “the understanding and use of agricultural biotechnology” in order to boost productivity.

Health and environmental concerns about the impact of transgenics and other aspects of biotechnology are addressed by Agrobio through the organization’s collaboration with research institutions. It also monitors the regulatory framework for their implementation.

Bioethanol is an area of significant potential for Mexico’s agriculture sector, and last year, the regional leader in the technology, Brazil, lent technical support and know-how to the Mexican sector.

The domestic savings alone would be considerable if Mexico were to embrace bioethanol production, and in states like Sinaloa, various bioethanol plants are now under construction. Moreover, there are hopes that future research will discover efficient methods of converting crops other than sugar and maize into fuel, adding further potential for growth in the agriculture sector.