The Textual Editorial Committee and the Coordination of Institutional Journals (CORI) are redoubling their efforts to improve the scientific and editorial quality of this Journal. In short, it will make known its updated and improved editorial standards to improve the reader-friendliness of the contributions that are published in its pages. With the support of CORI, work is currently underway to improve the entire management process. It is highly probable that the first issue of 2019 will be processed through the Open Journal System, which will give greater agility to the entire process.

The CORI-Editorial Committee team applied for the journal to receive economic support through the “Competitive fund for national and international positioning of science and technology journals published in Mexico,” administered by Mexico’s National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT). Having been selected to receive such valuable support, this gives us encouragement to intensify our efforts for the benefit of scientific production in the field of Social Sciences.

We at Textual welcome the arrival of Dr. María Elena Álvarez Buylla-Roces as the new head of CONACYT and hope that the Council achieves the objective established by Law of allocating 1 % of GDP to Science and Technology.

As for the articles published in this issue, in the section on Economics and Public Policies, we present four contributions, one of which is entitled “Analysis of the certification process of the Certification Agency for Agricultural Implements and Machinery (OCIMA) in Mexico,” of which two aspects should be highlighted: first, that OCIMA is the only certifying body for agricultural equipment in Mexico, and second, the authors propose, in the manner of a public policy recommendation, that all acquisitions of agricultural machinery and implements subsidized via federal and state programs must have the agency’s certification.

“The cultivation of corn and the making of tortillas by hand are processes that enable the social construction of food sovereignty and an ecological defense of (the peasants’) territory.” This is one of the conclusions reached by the authors of the article: “Food sovereignty and environmental risk in the social construction of rural territory in San Juan Ixtenco, Tlaxcala;” in order to do this, they theoretically and empirically “confront” the concepts of food security and sovereignty and the perception of risk that Ixtenco’s peasants construct when deciding whether or not to produce corn adapted to their food habits.

In the paper “The impact of interest and exchange rates on Mexican agricultural exports: a study for the period 1993- 2017,” the authors test the application of two econometric approaches: a) multiple regression analysis and b) Granger’s causality test. From this they conclude that “After estimating the two econometric approaches and performing the relevant tests, the signs expected by economic theory were obtained in the regression. However, the diagnostic tests are not consistent and, consequently, neither are the conclusions derived.”

Honey production in the Yucatán Peninsula is of fundamental importance in the regional agricultural economy. This activity faces several threats, such as the production of transgenic soy in that region, so it is important to know the characteristics of the producers, although they are not related to the threat mentioned by the authors of the article “Social and Economic Characterization of Bee Honey Production in the North of the State of Campeche, Mexico.” In it, the authors make a typology in which three aspects are relevant: a) the average age of the producers is 53 years old, b) the schooling level is low, as those who only have an elementary school education (complete and incomplete) total 54.6 % and, c) 77 % of the producers belong to an organization.

In our Latin American Scenarios section, we present the paper entitled “Key factors that enable the peasants in the Cauyal territorial subdivision in the municipality of Palmira, Valle del Cauca, Colombia to endure,” which has several relevant aspects. It is important to emphasize that the short distance between the peasants’ dwellings makes possible the generation of processes of collaboration, in this particular case, linked to processes of construction of collective knowledge in agricultural practices.

Two articles are featured in the Social Movements and Rural Culture section. The first paper reflects on the way in which the neoliberal economic model renews the role of peripheral economies as suppliers of raw materials to big business, currently configuring the existence of extractivist mega-projects, with open-pit mining being among the most notable. In the article “Socioenvironmental conflicts and open-pit mining in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico,” the authors reveal that in the commu nity there is internal division regarding the acceptance or not of the project. In this regard, the mining company’s strategy is important, which is no different from that implemented in other parts and focuses on “promises to improve the quality of life in the municipality once the mining begins.”

In the second, from a critique of the concept of “Sustainable Development,” the authors of the text “Rural Harmonic Development. A theoretical proposal from the subjects” make their proposal on the basis of three main ideas: a) those that concern the human being, b) the preservation of nature and, c) the organizations and offices of mediation, the notion of “Harmonic Devel opment or Harmonic Living.”

In our book review section, we have two submissions: one is about the book “The indigenous question in Mexico and Latin America” written by our Editor-in-Chief, and the other concerns the offering “Sociology, education and human capital: processes and periods of agricultural education in Mexico,” a product of the pen of Francisco Ramos García and Liberio Victorino Ramírez.

On another topic, the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW) is the second most ratified international instrument by UN Member States, after the Convention on the Rights of the Child. CEDAW was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 18, 1979 and entered into force in 1981; it is considered the international bill of rights for women.

States Parties are obliged to fulfil CEDAW’s precepts in order to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Within the framework of this convention, civil society organizations and educational institutions can contribute so-called “Shadow Reports” in which they provide relevant information on the compliance of the signatory States with CEDAW’s provisions. As a result of a workshop organized jointly by the Indigenous Women’s Alliance of Central America and Mexico, the International LAND Coalition (Latin America and the Caribbean), Autonomous Chapingo University (UACh), Ecomunnis A.C. and Fundación Paso a Paso A.C., the “Alternative Report: access to land, territory and natural resources for rural women, indigenous women, and disabled rural and indigenous women” was generated, which was presented in Geneva, Switzerland, within the framework of the 9th revision.

With the inclusion of this document, Textual recovers an old tradition of publishing documents relevant to the current social and political situation and the University builds its transcendence and social relevance.

It has been a great pleasure to serve as Deputy Editor of this issue of Textual.