Mexico vs. Canada: The battle for the title of “best agricultural customer” of the United States
It seems that Mexico is about to win an award that no one knew existed: the largest buyer of American food. Yes, while we fight over whether guacamole has onions or not, our country is about to surpass Canada in agricultural imports from the US. As? With pure post-pandemic hunger and a drought that has us importing grains as if there were no tomorrow (literally).
From tacos to cheeses: how Mexico became the wet dream of gringo farmers
According to the bank CoBank (which, by the way, sounds more like a crypto app than an agricultural expert), Mexico went from being 11.7% of US agricultural exports in 2020 to 16.4% in 2024. In other words, in four years we became 65% hungrier for American products. The reason? The “burgeoning” economy (yes, in quotes, because who knows how flourishing it is with weight in free fall) and a diet that now includes more meat, dairy and processed foods. Basically, we became more gringos without realizing it.
And not only that: Mexico is already the largest buyer of American dairy products. Yes, that country that criticizes us for putting cream on corn now sells us more cheese than Wisconsin itself. Per capita cheese consumption grew by 3.3% in the last decade. Translation? Nachos won the culture war.
Grains, droughts and trade tensions: the perfect combo
But here’s the good thing: Mexico will soon take over China’s title as the main buyer of US grains. Because? Because China and the US get along like cats and dogs when it comes to trade, and we… well, we have a drought that forces us to import as if corn were going to become extinct. Rob Fox, the CoBank analyst, sums it up this way: “Mexico is the fastest growing market for the US.” In other words, we are Uncle Sam’s star customer.
And if that were not enough, agricultural trade between Mexico and the US doubled in the last decade, reaching 80 billion dollars. That is, enough money to buy all the avocados in Michoacán… if the gringos hadn’t already bought them first.
What’s next? Probably, in a few years Canada will send us passive-aggressive memes for taking away their jobs. Meanwhile, we will continue eating imported cheese and genetically modified corn, because the Mexican countryside is drier than the mood in this article.
Are you surprised that Mexico is the new king of agricultural imports? Share this note and join the debate (although, honestly, we doubt anyone has a strong opinion on the grain trade). Or better yet, explore more content about how NAFTA made us addicted to gringo food.
