Latin American Herald Tribune: Agricultural experts from Latin America and the European Union are meeting in the Mexican capital to discuss ways to improve adaptation to climate change, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture said.
The Euroclima program, carried out by the Costa Rica-based IICA and the EU’s Joint Research Centre, aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge about adapting agriculture to climate change in Latin America, the institute said in a statement. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Sep 5, 2014
Apr 7, 2014
Laura's Blog: The Iceberg in the Desert
Mexican new reports state that 162 migrants were rescued from clandestine camps by the Mexican Army on April 3 and freed. During rounds, soldiers of the 45th Batallion discovered four camps in Saric, Sonora, near the U.S. border, located on the edge of the Sasabe desert, a common crossing zone that has recently become an area teeming with organized crime groups seeking to use crossers to carry contraband.
The Secretary of Defense release gave very few details, stating,
It does not tell us if drugs, arms, cash or other possible contraband was found at the scene of the alleged crime. We don't know how many are men, how many are women, what their ages are or where they were heading. We also don't know what states they are from or if they are indigenous.
The authorities have this information but the fact that it has been reserved from publication creates deep doubts regarding any subsequent investigation or judicial process.
Once again, nameless victims make ephemeral headlines under strange conditions. Then they disappear into anonymity, taking the dark secrets of what really happened with them.
For public consumption, there is only this (again, from SEDENA):
If this represents the tip of the iceberg--and that seems to be the case given the number of similar cases in the area within the last year--then we're looking at a tremendous iceberg in the desert. Local newspapers have been reporting an increase in the use of border-crossers as "mules" to carry small quantities of prohibited drugs over the border. Scores of stories report the abduction, confrontations and murder of migrants in run-ins with alleged criminal groups. In most of the reports, the story is unclear and the migrants' themselves seldom speak publicly about what occurred.
The area is famous for flows of drugs, cash, arms and human trafficking. Inexplicably, this all happens under the nose of the 45th Battalion, police and other security agents and in spite of, or sometimes with the help of, U.S. and Mexican government agents.
The Globalized Grapes of Wrath
In addition to forced recruitment for the drug smuggling that is the lifeblood of cartels, human trafficking for agrobusiness is growing.
Sin Embargo, a Mexican information service, notes of this recent case and others:
This is not a subsidy to low-wage farmworkers--it's a subsidy to private-sector agribusiness. The government of Tlaxcala also has a program to send migrant laborers to the grape harvest. Sin Embargo and others have documented child labor and the death of several children-workers in the Sonora farmworker camps.
Dossier Político, out of Hermosillo, Sonora notes that in May of 2010 in a similar incident 66 farmworkers were rescued. The workers reported being recruited and held as virtual slaves, working 13-hour days in the vineyards without pay and prohibited from communicating with their families.
The grape industry has sprung up in Sonora since the eighties and especially since NAFTA. Tucson Business reported in 2012 that the Mexican state produces 16.3 million, 19-pound boxes that pass through at the U.S. Port of Entry at Nogales beginning in May for about nine weeks.
The news reports on the rescue of migrants indicates that at least some were kidnapped as forced labor for the harvest.
The government of Veracruz states that the average wage for the farmworkers is $153 dollars a week, with some workers earning more. However, reports from the region say it's more like ten dollars a day, and half that for children.
So what kind of a society makes it an attractive business plan to kidnap workers as slaves rather than to pay ridiculously low wages?
A society where life is cheap. And where the criminals know they can get away with murder.
The Secretary of Defense release gave very few details, stating,
Among the persons liberated were 97 mexicanos, 60 Guatemalans, three Hondurans and 2 Salvadorans, who appeared in good health and were placed in the hands of the corresponding authorities.The brief note leaves a lot of questions unanswered. It does not tell us who was holding the migrants (if they were kdnapped, they had to have guards), nor why, according to the information provided, not one single culprit was arrested.
It does not tell us if drugs, arms, cash or other possible contraband was found at the scene of the alleged crime. We don't know how many are men, how many are women, what their ages are or where they were heading. We also don't know what states they are from or if they are indigenous.
The authorities have this information but the fact that it has been reserved from publication creates deep doubts regarding any subsequent investigation or judicial process.
Once again, nameless victims make ephemeral headlines under strange conditions. Then they disappear into anonymity, taking the dark secrets of what really happened with them.
For public consumption, there is only this (again, from SEDENA):
With these actions, the Mexican Army and the Air Force are working alongside the efforts of the Government of the Republic to attain a Mexico in peace, affirming its commitment to guarantee the security and tranquility of the citizenry.The release of captive migrants is cause for celebration. And 162 is a huge number. But I, for one, don't feel tranquil.
If this represents the tip of the iceberg--and that seems to be the case given the number of similar cases in the area within the last year--then we're looking at a tremendous iceberg in the desert. Local newspapers have been reporting an increase in the use of border-crossers as "mules" to carry small quantities of prohibited drugs over the border. Scores of stories report the abduction, confrontations and murder of migrants in run-ins with alleged criminal groups. In most of the reports, the story is unclear and the migrants' themselves seldom speak publicly about what occurred.
The area is famous for flows of drugs, cash, arms and human trafficking. Inexplicably, this all happens under the nose of the 45th Battalion, police and other security agents and in spite of, or sometimes with the help of, U.S. and Mexican government agents.
The Globalized Grapes of Wrath
In addition to forced recruitment for the drug smuggling that is the lifeblood of cartels, human trafficking for agrobusiness is growing.
Sin Embargo, a Mexican information service, notes of this recent case and others:
The victims of kidnapping are not just migrants from other countries, but also Mexicans from other states, like the case of 54 day laborers from the state of Puebla who were kidnapped in Caborca by a criminal group. The day laborers escaped to denounce that their captors had offered them a well-paid job in Sonora.Some 57,000 farm laborers arrive in Sonora every year from the states of Puebla, Chiapas, Guerrero and others to work in the grape harvest, where 59 companies install work camps for the harvest. Companies even receive government support and subsidies to bring migrant workers in. The state of Veracruz, for example, announced this year that it will provide $42,000 pesos "to support the day laborers" being sent from the state to Sonora.
This is not a subsidy to low-wage farmworkers--it's a subsidy to private-sector agribusiness. The government of Tlaxcala also has a program to send migrant laborers to the grape harvest. Sin Embargo and others have documented child labor and the death of several children-workers in the Sonora farmworker camps.
Dossier Político, out of Hermosillo, Sonora notes that in May of 2010 in a similar incident 66 farmworkers were rescued. The workers reported being recruited and held as virtual slaves, working 13-hour days in the vineyards without pay and prohibited from communicating with their families.
The grape industry has sprung up in Sonora since the eighties and especially since NAFTA. Tucson Business reported in 2012 that the Mexican state produces 16.3 million, 19-pound boxes that pass through at the U.S. Port of Entry at Nogales beginning in May for about nine weeks.
Sonora accounts for 90 percent of Mexico’s table grape production. The state exports almost all of its production, dispatching several dozen brands to more than 30 countries. Some10,000 acres are under cultivation...the recent abductions could indicate a trend toward the alliance of agrobusiness with organized crime to provide virtual slave labor in the harvest. The possibility merits at least full investigation.
The news reports on the rescue of migrants indicates that at least some were kidnapped as forced labor for the harvest.
The government of Veracruz states that the average wage for the farmworkers is $153 dollars a week, with some workers earning more. However, reports from the region say it's more like ten dollars a day, and half that for children.
So what kind of a society makes it an attractive business plan to kidnap workers as slaves rather than to pay ridiculously low wages?
A society where life is cheap. And where the criminals know they can get away with murder.
Feb 3, 2013
United States and Mexico Reach Deal on Tomato Imports
The New York Times
Stephanie Storm
February 3, 2013
The United States and Mexico have reached a tentative agreement on cross-border trade in tomatoes, narrowly averting a trade war that threatened to engulf a broad swath of American businesses.
The agreement, reached late Saturday, raises the minimum price at which Mexican tomatoes can be sold in the United States, aims to strengthen compliance and enforcement and increases the types of tomatoes governed by the bilateral pact to four from one.
“The draft agreement raises reference prices substantially, in some cases more than double the current reference price for certain products, and accounts for changes that have occurred in the tomato market since the signing of the original agreement,” Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, said in a statement.
The agreement will be open for public comment until Feb. 11. The Commerce Department estimated it would go into effect March 4. Read more.
Stephanie Storm
February 3, 2013
The United States and Mexico have reached a tentative agreement on cross-border trade in tomatoes, narrowly averting a trade war that threatened to engulf a broad swath of American businesses.
The agreement, reached late Saturday, raises the minimum price at which Mexican tomatoes can be sold in the United States, aims to strengthen compliance and enforcement and increases the types of tomatoes governed by the bilateral pact to four from one.
“The draft agreement raises reference prices substantially, in some cases more than double the current reference price for certain products, and accounts for changes that have occurred in the tomato market since the signing of the original agreement,” Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, said in a statement.
The agreement will be open for public comment until Feb. 11. The Commerce Department estimated it would go into effect March 4. Read more.
Jan 25, 2013
Refuting Monsanto's lies - UNORCA
National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA AC)
Americas Program Original Translation
Olegario Carrillo, the national leader of the National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA) initiated the second day of the encampment – a collective fasting in protest of the planting of transgenic corn in Mexico, camped out at the Angel of Independence in Mexico City – by refuting the lies propagated by Monsanto. The federal government could validate these lies if it approves permits for the commercial planting of more than one million hectares of GM maize in Sinaloa and Tamaulipas, as requested by Monsanto and other transnational seed companies.
1. Transgenic seeds have higher yields than conventional crops. FALSE.
Based on the records of thirteen years of GM crops in the U.S. it can be said that GMO crops have not increased yields. The yields of corn and soybeans (principal GMO crops) increased significantly during the last 15 years but the cause was not the use of transgenic seeds, but conventional breeding and other practices such as agroecology [i].
2. Transgenic seeds require fewer pesticides. FALSE.
Between 1996 and 2008 we used an additional 144 million kilos of pesticides that would have been used in the absence of GMO crops. This represents an average increase of 356 grams of pesticide per hectare planted with GMO seeds. The use of herbicide-tolerant GMO crops or RR increased by 31% between 2007 and 2008 due to the rapid expansion of herbicide resistant weeds and superweeds, virtually unknown before [ii].
Americas Program Original Translation
Olegario Carrillo, the national leader of the National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA) initiated the second day of the encampment – a collective fasting in protest of the planting of transgenic corn in Mexico, camped out at the Angel of Independence in Mexico City – by refuting the lies propagated by Monsanto. The federal government could validate these lies if it approves permits for the commercial planting of more than one million hectares of GM maize in Sinaloa and Tamaulipas, as requested by Monsanto and other transnational seed companies.
1. Transgenic seeds have higher yields than conventional crops. FALSE.
Based on the records of thirteen years of GM crops in the U.S. it can be said that GMO crops have not increased yields. The yields of corn and soybeans (principal GMO crops) increased significantly during the last 15 years but the cause was not the use of transgenic seeds, but conventional breeding and other practices such as agroecology [i].
2. Transgenic seeds require fewer pesticides. FALSE.
Between 1996 and 2008 we used an additional 144 million kilos of pesticides that would have been used in the absence of GMO crops. This represents an average increase of 356 grams of pesticide per hectare planted with GMO seeds. The use of herbicide-tolerant GMO crops or RR increased by 31% between 2007 and 2008 due to the rapid expansion of herbicide resistant weeds and superweeds, virtually unknown before [ii].
Sep 9, 2011
Viva Mexico: Traditional Maize Can Cope with Climate Change
MEXICO CITY, Sept 8, 2011 (IPS): "Maize, Mexico's staple food as well as a symbol, has the potential to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects without any need for genetically modified seeds, according to agricultural scientists.
"Climate change will have different impacts, because corn varieties are adapted to very specific conditions," Carolina Ureta, a researcher at the UNAM Biology Institute, told IPS. "While some varieties will benefit, others will be harmed....We can focus our attention on varieties that grow in adverse conditions, and see what genetic improvement is possible"....
"Climate change will have different impacts, because corn varieties are adapted to very specific conditions," Carolina Ureta, a researcher at the UNAM Biology Institute, told IPS. "While some varieties will benefit, others will be harmed....We can focus our attention on varieties that grow in adverse conditions, and see what genetic improvement is possible"....
May 26, 2008
Jesus Leon Wins Goldman Prize
It's rare that we get a chance to celebrate in this line of work. It seems we spend most of our time warning of new threats or documenting the devastation of a system that converts human lives and the vast diversity of nature into business ventures for the few.
But April 15 was a time to celebrate. Jesus Leon Santos, our nominee for the Goldman Environmental Prize, became the 2008 prizewinner for the North America region. In a moving ceremony held at the San Francisco Opera House, Jesus received the prize with his characteristic humility and dedication. Thousands of activists, philanthropists and students listened as he spoke out strongly about the displacement of Mexican maize farmers following NAFTA, the threat of genetically modified corn imports, and the importance of restoring and preserving traditional farming methods.
Environmentalists have sometimes had a hard time viewing agriculture as an area for environmental activism. Agricultural activity is usually found on the other side of the fence--as a force that works against the environment, through the use of agrochemicals, depletion of water, deforestation. But Jesus's project in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca is a perfect example of how that can change.
The Americas Policy Program has been following CEDICAM in its project to “build a future” in a homeland where erosion strips away the soil and out-migration strips away the farmers. As global warming, pollution, desertification, erosion and changes in land-use threaten our food supply, small farmers are coming to be viewed not just as victims, which they often are, but also as our possible salvation. And it’s no wonder that indigenous farmers, like Jesus, lead the move to sustainable farming. Find out more about how, watch this video also:
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