[Jaysun]

I see. Then the eventual solution will be for Mexico to abandon the mom-n-pop model. There seems to be a lot of nostalgia (I'm not talking about you, but in general) for the small family farm. The mom-n-pop type of farm. And there's a lot of animosity for what many call "corporate farms". I have a completely different view on that. I think that huge farm operations are wonderful. They've brought the price of food down, it's more plentiful than ever, and there's more variety than ever.

There are nations in which this corporate farming hasn't taken hold but they're third world nations, and many of them are starving.

[ClaireSolt]

And then there is mr in between. That is the successful independant farmer as opposed to the hilbillies who didn't know what they were doing and got squeezed out.

[tertiary01]

There are nations in which this corporate farming hasn't taken hold but they're third world nations, and many of them are starving

Maybe if the Mexican mom and pop could get ahold of the same technology that the American Mom and Pop can, they could make a go of their farm, but that's not the plan is it? I bet your buds are down there gobbling up their abandoned farms as I post.

[rpgdfmx]

No doubt agricultural policies are going to have to change... and they are. I don't think there's some "grand conspiracy" afoot, but that the people who think in terms of policy and macroeconomics and national goals and whatnot forget about Old McDonald and Jose Lopez... who may not have any other choice but to emigrate as a result -- to the Big City, or to the next country.

There are problems with corporate farming (beyond the financing) like it's intensive need for fertilizer and fuel that may not make the model that works in Iowa or Nebraska necessarily the one to use in Michoacán or Tlaxcala. The problem with these planners and international trade specialists is they tend to think "one size fits all". And they don't