Patience was exhausted in the field
The roads are quieter today. It’s not a holiday, it’s a strike. Grain farmers decided that enough of statements and work tables that do not amount to anything concrete. Their mobilization screams what the reports are silent: the model is broken.
“The strike announced for April 6 confirms a crisis that the country has postponed for years,” stated the Agricultural Markets Consulting Group.
And boy is he right. We have been hearing the same complaints, the same diagnoses, for decades. Insecurity on the routes, blatant extortion, skyrocketing production costs and vanishing profitability. It’s the never-ending story, but with tractors.
Pretty words vs ugly reality
The National Agricultural Council comes out with its usual statement. They talk about a “critical moment”, “solidarity” and four strategic tables with the government. They paint it as “an openness to dialogue not seen in previous years”.
Oh really? It sounds more like administrative déjà vu. Meanwhile, producers become decapitalized, compete against foreign subsidies and see how diesel and fertilizers become luxury items.
The serious thing here – and the consultants say this without anesthesia – is that institutional channels are not working. Reaching a national strike means that the official dialogue is pure theater. A theater where the same actor always loses: he who sows.
The most dangerous thing is desperation. Some voices call for removing basic grains from the T-MEC, a drastic and technically questionable measure. It is the symptom of a sector on the verge of collapse, looking for any way out.
The final diagnosis is forceful: without addressing the real cost of producing, without legal security and without stopping extortion, productive chains can break. And when that happens, there will be no communication to save us.
