Mexico’s Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, Jeffrey Max Jones, has resigned after causing a stir by announcing Mexican farmers could learn a thing or two from their drug farming narco counterparts.

Farmers “should follow the example of drug traffickers, because they produce what the market demands.”

“Today, on the other hand, farmers produce (crops) and later check to see if there is any demand in the market,”-Jeffrey Max Jones

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the evil in this statement. It may be a slap in the face to an already beaten down profession, but it is the cold hard truth, the sad reality of the situation.

Many of our farmers simply aren’t looking ahead; they are proving incapable of change. They farm what they know, what their Fathers and their Father’s Father farmed, regardless of whether or not there is a market.

We obviously know how the word ‘narco’ became the nasty ‘N’ word. I don’t think anyone needs a history lesson on what our country has been living for the past years, but I certainly don’t feel Max Jones was glorifying drug trafficking or insinuating farmers should trade in their crops for marijuana and opium fields. He was simply stating a very important logistical, statistical, and economical fact valuable to any businessman or woman: Know your market.

In his own defense, Jeffrey Max Jones has announced he was not trying to glorify drug trafficking. In a recent press conference, the now ex official said the comparative he used in his previous comment was based on the the success in marketing logistics of drug traffickers, which may make many uncomfortable, but does not change the fact that it is true.

Hice el comparativo para ilustrar el poder de una organización apegada a una lógica de mercado, lógica que históricamente ha faltado en muchos sectores del campo mexicano.

I made the comparison to illustrate the power of an organization rooted in a market logic, logic that has historically been lacking in many sectors of the Mexican countryside.

Ante esta hipótesis considero injusto el tratamiento informativo que se ha dado a mis declaraciones, asimismo, entiendo que decir la verdad muchas veces tiene sus costos.

In this scenario I consider unfair treatment has been given to my statements, I also understand that telling the truth often has its costs.

Tengo la conciencia tranquila ya que jamás he sido consumidor de estupefacientes o he fomentado su uso.

My conscience is clear because I have never been a consumer of narcotic drugs or have encouraged their use.

Es importante no perder de vista que finalmente son los consumidores los que dan el dinero que hace que el narcotráfico sea el negocio poderoso, destructivo y sangriento que es.

It is important to bear in mind that ultimately it is the consumers who give the money that makes the drugs the powerful, destructive and bloody business it is. -Jeffrey Max Jones

It’s a shame he’s gone. I only hope somebody in Sagarpa will really take what this man said and utilize it. Help our farmers learn the market trends, help them make much needed changes, help them adjust. Helping our farmers Produce will help our country Progress.