overview
Mexico is the world's twelfth largest country in land area—about three times the size of Texas—and about two-thirds of Mexico is arid or semi-arid. Agriculture accounts for roughly 5 percent of Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP). The share of GDP generated by agriculture declined in the last 30 years as the industrial and service sectors grew. Still, about one quarter of Mexico's 100 million people live and work in rural, largely agricultural, areas. The number of Mexicans active in agriculture is declining as many rural Mexicans migrate to cities or other countries. Improved efficiencies and increased use of capital-intensive production techniques have increased agricultural output, but Mexican agriculture remains diverse. While many farmers employ modern techniques, others use traditional methods.

ERS economists are engaged in a wide range of research about Mexico's agricultural sector. ERS is the primary agency preparing a Congressionally-mandated NAFTA report, reviewing U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agriculture. Other areas of research include:

• comparing U.S.and Mexican food assistance programs
• examining Mexico's transportation sector
• evaluating the cattle industries of both countries

More overview...

• Basic information
• Trade
• Policy
• Outlook
• Issues and analysis

features
U.S.-Mexico Corn Trade During the NAFTA Era: New Twists to an Old Story profiles the growing corn trade between the two countries. While U.S. corn exports to Mexico have more than tripled since NAFTA was implemented, the majority of these exports are still yellow corn, which is used primarily to feed livestock. In contrast, Mexico's corn sector produces mostly white corn, which is used to manufacture tortillas and other traditional Mexican foods.

Live Cattle Exports from Mexico into the United States highlights research on the origins and destinations of Mexican cattle imported into the United States. Recent animal disease outbreaks, food safety issues, and the possibility of agricultural terrorism raise concerns about the need for information about the movements of agricultural products into and within the United States. Livestock and meat are of special concern, given the potential human health and economic impacts of diseases.

recommended readings
Where Will Demographics Take the Asia-Pacific Food System? assesses the impact of expanded urbanization, variability in population growth and immigration, and aging populations on the Asia-Pacific food system. The ability of developing countries to adjust to rapid urbanization will be the most important demographic challenge, testing the region's capacity to deliver a steady flow of safe, reasonably priced food.

U.S. Agriculture and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) examines the free trade area under negotiation among the United States and 33 countries in the Western Hemisphere. The FTAA will progressively liberalize trade and investment in the region, leading to an estimated 6-percent increase in annual U.S. agricultural exports to the Hemisphere and a 3-percent increase in annual U.S. agricultural imports from the Hemisphere.

North American Agricultural Market Integration and Its Impact on the Food and Fiber System reviews the increasing integration of agricultural markets in Canada, Mexico, and the United States that has resulted in more efficient use of continental resources. NAFTA, technological change, and fundamental forces of supply and demand have helped bring about a more unified North American agricultural market.

See all recommended readings...

recommended data products
Production, Supply, and Distribution (PS&D) contains official USDA data on production, supply, and distribution of agricultural commodities for the United States and major importing and exporting countries. The database provides projections for the coming year and historical data for more than 200 countries and major crop, livestock, fishery, and forest products.

Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States (FATUS) provides U.S. agricultural exports and imports, volume and value, by country, by commodity, and by calendar year, fiscal year, and month, for varying periods, such as 1935 to the present or 1989 to the present. Updated monthly or annually.

WTO Agricultural Trade Policy Commitments Database contains data on implementation of trade policy commitments by WTO member countries. Data on domestic support, export subsidies, and tariffs are organized for comparison across countries. This queriable database offers various options for viewing and downloading data.

Agricultural Market Access Database (AMAD) is a publicly available information tool for analyzing WTO market access issues in agriculture. It contains data and information on WTO member countries, including tariff schedules, tariff bindings, applied tariff rates, country notifications to the WTO, import quantities, and other data useful in tariff analysis.

recent research developments
Research on transportation bottlenecks in the U.S.-Mexico food system was presented at a workshop in Laredo, Texas, Jan. 24-25, 2001. The workshop was sponsored by ERS and USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, together with the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture. Conference proceedings are forthcoming. Contact: William Coyle.

related briefing rooms
North American Free Trade Agreement
Canada
World Trade Organization
U.S. agricultural trade
Corn
Animal production and marketing issues

related links
Additional data and information on Mexico are available from USDA, other U.S. government sources, international organizations, the Mexican government, universities, and other sources.

See all related links...

for more information, contact: Steven Zahniser
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated: June 7, 2004