ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the factors affecting the expansion of commercial agriculture and identifies the limits of the dualistic growth model pursued by the Mexican state. It analyzes the dynamics of commercial agriculture in the region of Caborca, Sonora with reference to the key elements of the national agricultural crisis (the loss of dynamism of the agricultural sector, the stagnation of agricultural exports, the loss of national food self-sufficiency, an increasing pauperization of the peasantry, and the growing flow of state resources in support of commercial agriculture). The chapter identifies the causes for the success or failure of state policy. The dynamics of economic growth in the region of Caborca, Sonora can best be characterized as a series of boom and bust cycles that led to increasing state involvement in the local economy. Since the early 1950s, transnational corporations played an important role in the promotion of farmer production strategies.
