AN ANALYSIS OF THE GM CROP DEBATE IN MEXICO (original) (raw)

Introduction to the Histories of Maize in Mesoamerica

Histories of Maize in Mesoamerica, 2016

The goal of the editors of this volume on maize science was to bring together contributions that would individually incorporate and collectively assemble a comprehensive multidisciplinary set of data that developed particular lines or types of evidence from specific time periods (and regions) throughout the pre-Columbian geographic range of maize cultivation in Mesoamerica 1. Another primary goal in organizing this volume was to be holistic, and include research from the social, biological and earth sciences. The abridged volume on Mesoamerica is organized into four sections dealing with different aspects and regions of research on maize. The scope and breadth of the research takes into account recent methodological and technological innovations from the physical, biological and social sciences. These recently developed technical and methodological approaches provide ever-increasing detail and direct evidence on the antiquity, evolution, cultural importance and role of maize in ancient Mesoamerica. We believe that more recent methodologies and approaches such as isotope analysis regarding paleodiet and DNA analysis have essentially transformed our understanding of the origins, economic roles, and importance of maize as well as other domesticates to sociocultural developments in prehistory. My colleagues Robert H. Tykot, Bruce F. Benz and I hope that the readers of this volume agree that the research presented herein have established this to be the case. One of our two European contributors observed that such a book could never have been realized had it been organized and published outside of North America (see Chapter 1). Rather it would have been broken up into several books specialized on the respective scientific discipline and specialization concerned. These volumes would have presumably included research that was specifically geared to the interested specialists in those fields. Archaeological research on the domestication of grains in the Old World have generally developed within competing models that consider the spread of agriculture through 'acculturation' or 'waves of advance,' while in the Americas they have been predominantly couched within foraging/farming dichotomies that are specific and distinct to different regions of the hemisphere and their associated time periods [see 4, 9, versus 5, 6, 12, 19, 23]. Although the Old World approaches on the spread of agriculture and domestication lend themselves well to models used or tested by human geneticists and linguists, they have not worked as well for archaeologists and ethnobotanists in the Americas. In the Old World, emphasis has been placed upon initial causes or events, while in the Americas, archaeologists and ethnobotanists have mainly focused upon earliest presence, as well as the developmental and/or evolutionary processes associated with plant domestication and maize agriculture [3. 10, 13]. The Old World emphasis on migration and diffusion of plant domestication also takes away from the general focus upon the distinctions that important cultigens had to different regions and time-periods, while in the Americas such concerns have been clearly evident in methodological approaches to understanding the archaeological record (1, 3, see e.g., Chapters 1, 7, and 10). Despite differences in theoretical and methodological approaches to plant domestication in general and economic plants (mainly grains) in particular, the assumption that maize, like wheat and barley in the Old World, provided the economic basis for the development of civilization has been a central thesis among archaeologists in both hemispheres as well as Latin America [8, 13]. Remarkably, many of the contributions in this volume challenge those basic assumptions. Although the chapters in this volume appear to support the contention that maize was a major economic staple, some contributions indicate that when and why this occurred is dramatically different than had been previously suggested in the literature [20]. Other contributors present evidence to suggest that the way maize affected sociocultural processes is in fact far more complex and varied than had been originally assumed. One of the primary themes that run through many of

The Antiquity, Biogeography and Culture History of Maize in Mesoamerica.

Histories of Maize in Mesoamerica: Multidisciplinary Approaches., 2010

Domestication genetic change in population due to interaction with humans that leads to a dependence relation. Agriculture the mutual dependence of crop plant and humans Anagenesis the persistence of one or a suite of biological traits that over time leads to varietal divergence Cladogenesis the development of evolutionary novelty through the extinction of preexisting forms Dietary reliance subsistent dependence on a specific crop or trophic level.

Context and Background on Maize and its Wild Relatives in Mexico

Maize is the predominant crop of the world. About 30 percent of world production is used for direct human consumption and as an industrial input, while 70 percent is used as animal feed. Mexico safeguards the main genetic diversity of maize and its wild relative teosinte, both plants native to the country. The oldest known maize ear relics were excavated in a cave in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and were dated 6250 years before the present era. Native Mesoamericans domesticated maize, invented nixtamalization, and developed maize from a 6 cm long, popping-kernel ear to what we now recognize as modern maize with its wide variety in ear size, kernel texture, color, size, and adequacy for diverse uses. In fact, native Mesoamericans continue to develop maize on more than one million small farms in Mexico. These farmers grow their own seed and depend on maize as their main source of food. In doing this, some 84 Mexican ethnic groups are also acting as stewards of maize genetic diversity. Transgenic food-maize has been detected—albeit in variable proportions—deep in the heartland of Mexican traditional agriculture. The Mexican Federal Government adopted a de facto moratorium to commercial production of transformed maize through its Ministry of Agriculture in 1998, but has allowed maize imports that may include transgenic maize. Expected consequences of the presence of transformed maize in Mexico are analyzed in this book. Those consequences involve a number of issues: status of genetic diversity of maize and its wild relatives, natural ecosystems, agriculture, human and animal health, society and culture, risks and opportunities. In this chapter, we will look at maize and its wild relatives in Mexico, from the time of maize domestication to the present. We will also examine some elements of the traditional approach to developing maize as a crop and conserving its genetic diversity, as well as its present day distribution in Mexico, and dispersion throughout the world. Finally, we will look into transformed maize and how it could interact with maize landraces.

Intersecting perspectives on Mexican maize landscapes

Revue d’ethnoécologie, 2021

In this issue, we present a wide range of texts about the diversity of maize in Mexico in relation to peasant agricultural practices. The scientific debates on this theme form part of a line of reflection about the conservation of biodiversity that the Revue d'ethnoécologie has been featuring and fostering for some time. The authors of the present issue share the same research object, maize, which they examine on various scales and from a wide variety of observation points (direct experiences, national analyses, local studies): why and for whom should we conserve agricultural biodiversity (Bahuchet et al. 2000, Rodríguez 2011, Swart et al. 2018)? How can an object such as this one, which is in constant evolution, be studied and measured? (Aguirre Salcedo & Ceccon 2020, Nicholls et al. 2020, Iermanó et al. 2020) How can practices and phenomena that conserve this diversity, but at the same time transform it, be analyzed (Dumez 2010, Cunha Ávila et al. 2017)? The importance relevance of certain analytical categories, and the connections between biodiversity and cultural diversity (Virtanen 2019, Roué 2006), are also at the heart of these texts. In Mexico, these questions have aroused interest in the fields of anthropology and ecology. But they have also been studied by agronomists involved in research programs in support of peasant agriculture. Intersecting perspectives on Mexican maize landscapes Revue d'ethnoécologie, Supplément 2 | 2021

The Antiquity, Biogeography, and Culture History of Maize in the Americas.

In Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize., edited by John E. Staller, Robert H. Tykot, and Bruce F. Benz., pp. 665-673. , 2006

Histories of Maize in the Americas: Multidisciplinary Approaches

Academic Press, 2006

ABSTRACT This volume reprints 20 chapters from the comprehensive edited volume on the Histories of Maize in the Americas (2006). New findings and interpretations from the past three years have been included. Histories of Maize is the most comprehensive reference source on the botanical, genetic, archaeological, and anthropological aspects of ancient maize published. Included in this abridged volume are new introductory and concluding chapters and updated material on isotopic research. State of the art research on maize chronology, molecular biology, and stable carbon isotope research on ancient human diets have provided additional lines of evidence on the changing role of maize through time and space and its spread throughout the Americas. The multidisciplinary evidence from the social and biological sciences presented in this volume have generated a much more complex picture of the economic, political, and religious significance of maize.

Keepers of maize in Chiapas, Mexico

Economic Botany, 1994

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The origin and diversity of maize in the american continent

Maize is the cereal of the peoples and cultures in the American continent. The most ancient civilizations in America –from the Olmecs and Teotihuacans in Mesoamerica to the Incas and Quechuans in the Andean region of South America- flourished accompanied with this plant. This link between culture and agriculture had motivated the humanists and scientists to ask: which is the origin of this cereal? How was the evolution of maize once the different human groups adopted and cultivated it for their own profit? These questions had led them to explore the past, and nowadays -thanks to the technological and scientific development- led them to unravel several enigmas which surround the domestication of this crop. Although not all the details that allow us to explain its origin and domestication had been found, the scientists reached a consensus: the direct ancestor of maize is the teosinte. Nevertheless, during more than 70 years and before reaching such conclusion, there was a deep debate which contributed to the advancement of knowledge in several areas of the scientific endeavor. So is it that some of the greatest scientists of the 20th century studied maize, its origins and diversification. For example, in 1983 the American researcher Barbara McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology due to her discovery of the mobile genetic elements1 in the chromosomes of maize. Maize is the cereal which has had more importance in the economy sector worldwide during all the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. In the industrialized countries, maize is mainly used as forage, raw material for the production of processed foods and, recently, for ethanol production. On the other hand, in some Latin American countries and increasingly more in Africa, a great percentage of maize produced or imported is used for human consumption. In this sense, maize had been and still is a key factor for the survival of farmers and indigenous people who live in most of the countries of the American continent. It is paradoxical that, even with each time less and less economic resources allocated for the inhabitants of the poorest communities, they are the stewards of maize diversity. Such situation is putting at risk valuable seeds: the researches and studies conducted throughout several years from the point of view of scientific and humanistic disciplines, have proved that the role of the farmer is of uttermost importance for the preservation and diversification of maize. However, the research and development programs for in situ conservation of maize are very restricted and had not been generalized to important regions with great concentration of ethnic and farming groups. Nowadays, keeping maize germplasm banks, or ex situ conservation, is the dominant strategy because it is linked to the technological path of the developed countries and also because the in situ conservation in several less developed countries is not supported due to financial restrictions. It is foreseen that within a few years, the lack of care and attention to these rural communities where the mayor percentage of native germplasm is, will have a negative impact on maize diversity. It is also foreseen that the public policies that promote the intensive capital technologies which move the jobs towards urban areas or towards foreign countries, will determine the rate of extinction of genetic resources of maize. The risk of loosing genetic diversity of maize is very high. The economic conditions of poverty and marginalization faced by the farmers, as is already evident in several regions of America, will lead to a generalized extinction of maize diversity. One way to alleviate this situation is to re-value the crop through the knowledge of its origin and diversification in the American Continent. This document aims to recover the history of the scientific research and socio-cultural aspects related to the origin and diversity of native maize, in order to allow the peoples of America rescue the plant which is a symbol of the American continent and its culture.