Objective:

For many thousands of years, native corn has been an important material base of Mesoamericans nations, first for being the core of their local food systems. Today, it is still a centerpiece of the modern diet as a key ingredient in the industrial agri-food system. Within the context of these changes, some researchers spoke about the emergence of a new metabolic relationship between men and this age-old plant. The purpose of this paper is to provide some elements to illustrate this statement, taking as an example the production and uses of corn in the context of the agri-food industry.

Methodology:

To that aim, we used a qualitative methodology based, in the first place, on the work of Karl Marx about the labor process as a key element of metabolism between men and nature. In the second place, we analyzed some economical, institutional and scientific documents and the commercial strategies of several corporations belonging to the industrial agri-food system in Mexico.

Results:

Corn is now a key ingredient in several labor processes redesigned from the necessities of capitalist food industry and based on imported transgenic corn, processed by techniques of seed fragmentation in order to elaborate ultra-processed foods.

Limits:

Other aspects of the new man-corn relationship outside the scope of the agri-food industry were not taken into account. The role of corn in the agro-food industry was analyzed from the study of only four large agri-food companies. The role of corn in feed production for animals was not considered.

Conclusion:

The uses of corn in the framework of the agri-food industry can be good elements, albeit limited, to exemplify the statement according to which the relationship between men and corn is being drastically reconfigured.

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