Deforestation in Mexico is caused by three distinct economic activities – expansion of
food crop area, conversion of forest to pasture, and timber exports. Although all three are important, existing data are not good enough to assign magnitudes to their effects. Two different phenomena can lead to deforestation for food crop production.When crop prices rise, production expands onto previously forested areas. When macroeconomic activity declines and unemployment increases, workers move onto marginal,
open access lands in order to meet their food needs.