GUADALAJARA, Jalisco - The agriculture secretary told an international conference on Wednesday the nation's farmers cannot compete with subsidized goods from the United States and Europe and that Mexico will enact reforms to combat "disloyal practices".

At the close of the 30th North American-European Union Conference, Javier Usabiaga said the government would work to convince its trading partners to "eliminate agricultural subsidies that are distorting the market."

"We have already seen in the past that the so-called 'trade wars,' and now the 'subsidy wars,' do not contribute to general well-being, and much less to the well-being of producers," Usabiaga said.

He added Mexico will "reform its international trade laws to achieve an effective fight against disloyal practices."

At a press conference after the event, Bob Stallman, head of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), admitted the U.S. should eliminate certain agricultural subsidies. But he emphasized, before that happens, all U.S. trade partners should participate "in a process in which they agree on mutually beneficial changes."

According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for every cultivatable hectare of land, the EU hands out 722 dollars in subsidies, the U.S. 122 dollars and Mexico only 53 dollars, news agency AFP reported.

However, Marcus Borgstrom, president of the EU's Agricultural Cooperation Committee, told AFP the solution to issues that have brought Mexico's agriculture sector to the brink of collapse is the "creation of small cooperatives that can strengthen the internal market."

During his speech, Usabiaga touched on that issue, saying that by year's end, "the modernization of the Mexican agriculture market will begin" to address the "enormous deficiencies the sector has."

In 2003, Mexico will heed North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) requirements and remove tariffs on an array of food imports from Nafta partners the United States and Canada, including milk, wheat, rice, potatoes and coffee.