"Not only did [NAFTA] have an adverse affect on certain communities that saw jobs move down to Mexico but for example our agricultural section pretty much devastated a much less efficient Mexican farming system.  As a practical matter those are millions of people in Mexico who are displaced, many of whom now are moving up to the United States."

—Barack Obama, June 2008

 

The U.S. subsidizes agriculture with $20 billion each 

year compared to $3.5 billion in Mexico (NACLA, ‘08), enabling

large U.S. grain companies to sell corn at prices 30

percent below Mexico’s cost of production (LAWG, ‘05).

 

Given advanced technology, U.S. agribusiness can produce

corn at a much higher rate than Mexican family

farmers. While it takes the average Mexican farmer

17.8 days of labor to produce one ton of corn, it takes

the average U.S. grain company just 1.2 hours (IRC, ‘04).

 

The influx of cheap subsidized grains from the U.S to

Mexico under NAFTA resulted in the decimation of at

least two million farming jobs (IATP, ‘07). This number

does not include an estimated eight million farmers

who abandoned their land as subsidies, access to credit,

and a guaranteed product price were stripped away as

prerequisites for NAFTA’s implementation (ANEC, ‘08).

 

Two-thirds of the undocumented Mexicans currently

living in the U.S. (4.13 million people) came after

NAFTA’s implementation in 1994 (WP, ‘07).

 

The average number of Mexicans migrating to the U.S.

each year has increased from 28,000 to 500,000

since 1994—an upsurge of 1,686 percent (UIA, ‘09).

 

Every hour Mexico imports $1.5 million worth of food;

in that same hour 30 farmers migrate to the U.S. (AG, ‘08)

 

This article is reprinted by permission from the Witness  for Peace Mid-Atlantic Fall 2009 Newsletter.  For more information, go to www.witnessforpeace.org