Around 9,000 years ago, human beings began growing corn for the first time near Tehuacan, in what is now the central Mexican state of Puebla. In the years that followed, corn became an important part of the cultures that gave rise to modern Mexico. Now, climate change threatens corn production in the area. Sol Ortiz is director of the climate change group at Mexico’s agriculture ministry. Ortiz says that 75 percent of Mexico’s soil is already too dry for growing crops. In areas such as Tehuacan, temperatures may rise more than the average increase worldwide. We know there are areas where the increase is going to be greater. That will obviously affect rain patterns, and in turn, agriculture and food security, Ortiz said. In Tehuacan, the area under corn cultivation decreased 18 percent between 2015 and 2019, to about 40,000 hectares, the Reuters news agency reported. Nationally, the area under corn cultivation declined 4 percent from 2015 to 2019.