Contract farming constitutes integration and subordination mechanisms of agriculture to agribusinesses, which has been spreading in Third-World countries during the last decades, in relation to nontraditional products. In Mexico, such labor arrangements represent the main sourcing mechanisms for the frozen agroindustry, mostly located in Mexicoâs central region (Guanajuato), and whose dynamism has resulted from the growing demand of American consumers. The purpose of this article is the study of the relationships that this agroindustry establishes with growers, as well as the implications or impacts that contract farming has for the latter. Restructuring policies and structural adjustment programs in Mexico, that have entailed the end of various subsidies and support that the state provided to agricultural (especially to grain producers) has resulted in an increase of their dependence from agroindustry.  Within this context, contract farming represents a survival mechanism for a large number of such farmers.

Keywords: contract farming, nontraditional agriculture, frozen vegetables, agroindustry, Mexico