Mexico’s corn farmers see their livelihoods wither away / Cheap U.S. produce pushes down prices under free-trade pact

“Tending his sun-drenched half-acre cornfield, Jose Davila represents a part of Mexico that may fade away as the pressures of free trade intensify.

“I’m an antique,” said the hunched 90-year-old farmer. “Who wants to work all day in the sun and earn so little? All the younger people now look for jobs in factories or construction. Either that, or they go to the United States.”

The growing dilemma that Mexico’s 2 million corn farmers face as the tariffs that protect them shrink under the North American Free Trade Agreement was an issue in this month’s presidential election. And as the United States wrestles with already high levels of illegal immigration, some experts say the demise of Mexico’s peasantry deserves serious U.S. attention.”

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