(NAFB) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week stated Mexico’s ban on imported genetically modified corn would apply to human food products, not livestock feed.

That understanding was revealed following recent talks between Vilsack and his Mexican counterpart.

Vilsack says limiting the ban is a relief for U.S. farmers, saying, “It’s not going to have as great an impact as it would if it was everything all at once all now.”

Vilsack says U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has also addressed the plan with Mexico and that there is a process under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement for raising such issues, according to Reuters. Late last year, Mexico published an executive order seeking to ban the use of GMO corn for human consumption, but did not define the products included in the ban. Mexico pledged to substitute imports of GMO corn with local production by 2024.

Mexico imported around 16 million metric tons of mostly GMO corn in 2020.