Jared Laureles and Alexia Villaseñor
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, December 18, 2025, p. 5
Negotiations for the creation of a strategic grain reserve, which translates into competitive prices for farmers, continued last night between the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside (Fmrcm) and federal authorities, including the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader), Julio Berdegué. Until the closing of this edition, each of the producers that make up the front had presented their demands, but according to one of the attendees, after almost five hours of dialogue there was no progress in the definition of competitive prices for corn and beans, and the establishment of a specific date for the start of the program.
Before the meeting, held at the Sader headquarters, Eraclio Rodríguez, leader of the front, warned that in 28 states they were willing to reactivate road and customs blockades starting last night if an agreement was not reached with the authorities.
“We are already in various parts of the Republic, the tractors are on the roads and our colleagues are there,” he declared.
However, he stated, the producers are willing to reach a “good agreement,” as happened in a meeting hours before between the Ministry of the Interior and leaders of the National Association of Transporters (Antac), in Bucareli.
While the dialogue table was taking place at Sader, which began shortly after 7 p.m., this agency reiterated its willingness to prioritize open and respectful dialogue with producers, in order to address their concerns through institutional channels.
▲ Eraclio Rodríguez, leader of the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside, was captured leaving a previous meeting with the Government. Until the closing of this edition, the meeting with authorities without agreements continued.Darkroom Photo
Through her X account, Sader assured that they will remain at the meeting as long as necessary to reach agreements with the leaders of the front.
The undersecretary of the branch, Leonel Cota Montaño, was present at the meeting; the Undersecretary of the Interior, César Yáñez, and the head of the Government Unit of the Interior, Tonatiuh Ramírez.
For producers, they assured, a good agreement should guarantee marketing for all farm products, with fair, loyal trade, in which everyone wins and producers recover their investments and can continue living from agricultural activity.
Rodríguez also participated in the dialogue table at the Cobián Palace, where he declared, before entering, that they cannot continue selling products below production costs when they sell them “excessively expensive” to consumers. He mentioned that the tortilla should cost between 10 and 12 pesos; However, the national average is 27 pesos.
Baltazar Valdez, another of the leaders, who joined the meeting at Sader a couple of hours later, acknowledged that his proposals “are a little more complicated” but he hopes progress can be made.
Regarding the initiative to collect grains for the creation of a strategic reserve, the producers explained that it should include beans, wheat, sorghum, white and yellow corn for animal feed and 6 billion pesos to attend to the marketing of oilseeds.
