Tamale trouble in Tucson: Corn shortage puts a crimp in holiday tradition | Subscriber

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Rodriguez traces the problem back to March, saying it only got worse as the demand for corn increased.

“There’s corn every day, but we’re only getting a certain amount,” he said, and that amount is significantly less than in recent years and requires going deeper into Mexico, sometimes as far as Sinaloa, he added.

He also pays more for the corn, about $ 4.50 to $ 5 for a dozen ears of wheat. He sells the corn for $ 7 a dozen and splits his weekly loot between his restaurant customers and El Rey del Elote, where they sell ground corn to the public for $ 4.50 a pound.

Ricardo Cazares, who sells the pre-made regular corn masa and green corn by the dozen of ears of wheat from his south side Alejandro’s tortilla factory, said he feared he won’t have enough corn on hand to meet vacation demand. His 35 year old factory at 5330 S. 12th Ave. Also sells packaged Masa at Fry’s, Walmart and Safeway this time of year, alongside the popular line of flour and corn tortillas.

“The green corn, there are sometimes weeks when we don’t have any corn at all,” said Cazares. “You don’t have enough corn to meet demand.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned of the coming scarcity, forecasting in a January 2020 report that Mexico’s corn production could decline slightly due to Mother Nature’s water supplies and the country’s dwindling irrigation system.

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