🧪 Mexico's GMO Mess / 🐓 Chicken Sandwich Suppliers Win Big / 📎 Vilsack's Agenda

Mexico is saying “adios” to GMO corn while its government has a knock-down, drag-out fight ahead of it to make it all but official.

Refresher: On the eve of 2021, Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a decree banning the production, consumption, and import of bioengineered corn, effective in 2024.

But he didn’t stop with maize. The ban included the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, which many producers use to control weeds.

Organic producers praised the move as a “huge victory,” but not everyone is joining the fiesta.

Mexico’s corn industry chamber shot it straight: “This decree is completely divorced from reality.”

Mexicans grow nearly all of the white corn they need to roll out their staple tortillas. But their livestock relies on GMO yellow dent corn, almost all imported from the U.S.

By the numbers:

→ 40%: The livestock sector’s share of the Mexican farm economy.
→ 95%: The portion of imported GMO corn supplied by the U.S.

And with Mexico being U.S. corn farmers’ biggest customer, the industry is concerned. To be noted, China is forecasted to increase its U.S. corn imports, but Mexico has traditionally been our most predictable and loyal amigo. Until now...

Where this goes: With concerns over the action being anti-USMCA (as in, illegal) and detrimental to Mexican corn and livestock producers, this fight will be duked out in the courts.

→ Supremely unfair. The North American Meat Institute filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling for California’s Prop 12 law on farm animal confinement.

→ New Bayer business cards. Dr. Jacqueline Applegate takes the helm as President of Crop Science North America, while Dr. Jeremy Williams will serve as Head of The Climate Corporation and Digital Farming.

→ CFAP app update. The Farm Service Agency nixed the February 26 due date and will keep applications for pandemic-related relief open for producers throughout the entire evaluation period.

→ BASF’s bummer day: The Agricultural Solutions unit saw global sales slide 2% versus 2020 despite volume growth.

→ How sweet it is. Berry giant Driscoll’s has partnered with Consumer Physics, a quality tech company, to measure the brix [sweetness] of its berries to better measure quality and incentivize independent growers.

The crispy chicken sandwich wars just got reheated.

A lil mom & pop shop entered the arena last week and has Chick-Fil-A and Popeye’s doing a double-take. You might’ve heard of 'em…

McDonald's.

With Mickey D’s entering the game, all eyes have surprisingly shifted to the fast-food world’s suppliers - U.S. poultry producers.

Who’s hot: Tyson. Rumored to be McDonald’s main supplier squeeze, a chicken sandwich frenzy is swell news for the integrator. With 20% of their production focusing on small bird processing - the variety used for chicken sandwiches - they are primed to take advantage of chicken sandwich war 2.0.

Another winner: Pilgrim’s Pride. Chick-fil-A’s biggest supplier is bound to get a boost too.

With ⅓ of their production geared towards small birds and another facility converting to meet more demand, they see dollar signs when #ChickenWars lights up Twitter feeds.

The McDonald’s effect: Regardless of supplier relationships, the Golden Arches is notorious for influencing commodity prices with its 30% market share of the fast-food category. Analysts note chicken breast prices jumped 45% from January to February.

What's ahead: Between heated fast-food ad campaigns and returning foodservice traffic, expect this battle to benefit the poultry industry for the remainder of 2021.

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With a smooth sailin’ confirmation vote last week, Tom Vilsack is back in the saddle as the USDA chief.

A big ag agenda ahead of the returning Secretary of Agriculture, we’re turning to his soundbites to highlight his ‘Urgent & Important’ to-do list items…

Climate Change

“There’s an opportunity for us to create new market incentives for soil health, for carbon sequestration, for methane capture and reuse. It has to be structured and devised and designed in a way in which the principal beneficiaries are farmers."

*Speaking to the focus of farmers on carbon-related programs.

Trade [Ahem, China, ahem]

“The good news is – China seems to be living up to its responsibilities. The bad news is: At any point in time, because of the complex nature of the China-U.S. relationship, things can happen that might affect those purchases.”

*Noting the current state of China’s commitment to importing $173.1 billion in ag goods despite pandemic headwinds.

Minority Farmers

"We need to take a much deeper dive into USDA programs to determine if they contain systemic racism or barriers — intentional or unintentional — that make it difficult for people to access programs.”

*Speaking to equity trends and expanding minority producer’s access to credit.