Editing Economy of Mexico (section)

==== History ====
[[File:Puebla farmers.jpg|thumb|right|Farmers in [[Puebla]]]]
{| style="width: 22em; font-size: 85%; text-align: left;" class="wikitable floatright"
|+Food and agriculture
|-
! style="background:#e9e9e9;" | '''Product'''
! style="background:#e9e9e9;" | '''Quantity ([[Metric ton|Tm]])'''
! style="background:#e9e9e9;" | World Rank<sup>1</sup>
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
||Avocados
|  style="text-align:right;"| 1,040,390
|  style="text-align:right;"| 1
|-
|Onions and chayote
|align=right|1,130,660
|align=right|1
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
||Limes and lemons
|  style="text-align:right;"|1,824,890
|  style="text-align:right;"|1
|-
|Sunflower seed
|align=right|212,765
|align=right|1
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
|| Dry fruits
|  style="text-align:right;"| 95,150
|  style="text-align:right;"| 2
|-
| Papaya
| align=right|955,694
| align=right|2
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
|| Chillies and peppers
|  style="text-align:right;"| 1,853,610
|  style="text-align:right;"|2
|-
|  Whole beans
| align=right| 93 000
|  align=right|3
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
|| Oranges
|  style="text-align:right;"|3,969,810
|  style="text-align:right;"|3
|-
| Anise, badian, fennel
| align=right|32 500
| align=right|3
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
|| Chicken meat
|  style="text-align:right;"|2,245,000
|  style="text-align:right;"|3
|-
| Asparagus
| align=right|67,247
| align=right|4
|- style="background:#f0f0f0;"
|| Mangoes
|  style="text-align:right;"|1.503.010
|  style="text-align:right;"|4
|-
| Corn
| align=right|20,000,000
| align=right|4
|-
| colspan="3"  style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|<small><sup>1</sup>Source:FAO<ref name="FAO"/></small>
|}

After the [[Mexican Revolution]], Mexico began an [[Agrarian land reform in Mexico|agrarian reform]], based on the [[Mexican Constitution#Article 27|27th article of the Mexican Constitution]] than included transfer of land and/or free land distribution to [[peasant]]s and small farmers under the concept of the ''[[ejido]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-ejido.html |title=Ejido |access-date=May 29, 2007 |language=es |archive-date=May 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527165416/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-ejido.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This program was further extended during President [[Lázaro Cárdenas|Cárdenas]]' administration during the 1930s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sra.gob.mx/web2007/informacion_general/historia/revolucion_07transformaciones.asp |title=Las Transformaciones del Cardenismo |author=Secretaría de Reforma Agraria |access-date=May 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513180234/http://www.sra.gob.mx/web2007/informacion_general/historia/revolucion_07transformaciones.asp |archive-date=May 13, 2007 |language=es |url-status=dead  }}</ref> and continued into the 1960s at varying rates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sra.gob.mx/web2007/informacion_general/historia/revolucion_11demandas.asp |title=Nuevas Demandas Campesinas |author=Secretaría de Reforma Agraria |access-date=May 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513180233/http://www.sra.gob.mx/web2007/informacion_general/historia/revolucion_11demandas.asp |archive-date=May 13, 2007 }}</ref> The cooperative agrarian reform, which guaranteed small farmers a means of subsistence livelihood, also caused land fragmentation and lack of capital investment, since commonly held land could not be used as collateral. To raise rural productivity and living standards, this constitutional article was amended in 1992 to allow for the transfer of property rights of communal lands to farmers cultivating it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sra.gob.mx/web2007/informacion_general/historia/transformacion_01transformacion.asp |title=Trasformación Institucional |author=Secretaría de Reforma Agraria |access-date=May 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513150517/http://www.sra.gob.mx/web2007/informacion_general/historia/transformacion_01transformacion.asp |archive-date=May 13, 2007 |language=es |url-status=dead  }}</ref> With the ability to rent or sell it, a way was open for the creation of larger farms and the advantages of economies of scale. Large mechanized farms are now operating in some northwestern states (mainly in [[Sinaloa]]). However, privatization of ''ejidos'' continues to be very slow in the central and southern states where the great majority of peasants produce only for subsistence.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

Until the 1980s, the government encouraged the production of basic crops (mainly [[maize|corn]] and [[beans]]) by maintaining support prices and controlling imports through the [[Compañía Nacional de Subsistencias Populares|National Company for Popular Subsistence]] (CONASUPO). With trade liberalization, however, CONASUPO was gradually dismantled, and two new mechanisms were implemented: Alianza and Procampo. Alianza provides income payments and incentives for mechanization and advanced irrigation systems. Procampo is an income transfer subsidy to farmers. This support program offers 3.5&nbsp;million farmers who produce basic commodities (mostly corn), representing 64% of all farmers, with a fixed income transfer payment per unit of cropland area. This subsidy increased substantially during President Fox's administration, mainly to white corn producers, to reduce imports from the United States. This program has been successful, and in 2004, roughly only 15% of corn imports were white corn –the one used for human consumption and the type that is mostly grown in Mexico– as opposed to 85% of yellow and crashed corn –the one used for feeding livestock, and which is barely produced in Mexico.<ref name="USDA">
{{cite web  | last1 = Zanhiser  | first1 = S  | last2 = Coyle  | first2 = W.  | title = U.S.-Mexico Corn Trade During the NAFTA Era: New Twists to an Old Story  | year = 2004  | url = http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/FDS/may04/fds04D01/  | format = PDF  | access-date = September 28, 2006  | url-status = dead  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060924194442/http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/FDS/may04/fds04D01/  | archive-date = September 24, 2006 | df = mdy-all  }}</ref>