Nebraska, USA - U.S. trade officials have preferred not to discuss non-GMO opportunities for U.S. farmers, but some farmers and grain suppliers would welcome them.
“I think the U.S. farmer would be delighted to have a market where they would get paid more by providing an identity-preserved, (non-GMO) crop,” says Lynn Clarkson, CEO of Clarkson Grain, a leading U.S. supplier of non-GM corn.
Graham Christensen, a fifth-generation farmer in Lyons, Nebraska, is one example. “Absolutely, if there’s a demand there, let’s find ways to partner with Mexico,” he says. “They’re that much closer, and they’re a trade partner. We should make it happen.”
Nate Belcher, co-owner of Hybrid85, a Nebraska-based non-GMO corn seed company, says his state—the leading producer of white corn in the U.S.–could meet Mexico’s demand for non-GMO corn. “There’s a $450 million market in corn going from Nebraska to Mexico. We could fill the non-GMO demand from Nebraska and a good portion of the Midwest as well,” he says.