The peasant economy of the Yucatan Peninsula is sustained by agriculture and beekeeping. Honey production has great economic importance, given that it represents the main source of income for Mayan rural families. Furthermore, Mexico is the world's fourth‐largest exporter of honey. The honey comes from jungle that covers the peninsular territory and forms part of a production system that broadly utilizes forestry resources. Two new situations emerged in 2011 that detonated social mobilization to defend beekeeping: the Mexican government authorized the planting of transgenic soybeans, while the European Union announced that honey that originated from transgenic pollen would have to be labelled (‘contains transgenics’), whereas honey importers demand transgenic‐free honey. The introduction of transgenic soybeans in the Yucatan Peninsula is part of the modern, industrial agricultural impetus in the region, which is entering into conflict with the Mayan peasant agriculture and threatens the survival of the most important Mexican tropical forest. A movement alliance was built among different social actors, including Mayan communities, beekeeper and civil‐society organizations, universities and honey‐exporting entrepreneurs, who developed an opposition and a resistance strategy to the cultivation of transgenic soybeans. Their repertoire has included collective legal, educational and organizational action, scientific research, mobilization, information, a media presence and lobbying. This mobilization has yielded results, as in 2015 the judiciary power invalidated the authorization of the cultivation of transgenic soybeans.