SUSTAINABILITY

To be able to produce an agave spirit one must harvest the plant before it can flower, otherwise the necessary starches, which are converted into fermentable sugars through the cooking of the pinas, are lost. Because of that, nature is losing out on its meal, whether that is for birds, insects, bees or bats, who are the very important pollinators of agaves. In fact, bats are the plant’s primary pollinator that feeds on the nectar of agave flowers, going from one to another carrying with them the pollen to fertilize other plants.

Industrial practices used to produce a lot of agave spirits have led to if not caused the decline in genetic diversity in agaves.

By allowing the precious maguey to flower you increase biodiversity, which helps sustain the crops. Also, you allow a natural growth of more agaves that are genetically slightly different to its mother plant, meaning if a disease took hold of the agave fields it would not spread, certainly not as easily or quickly, as if all the agaves shared the same DNA.

There are multiple ways to reproduce as an agave.

When an agave matures it grows what’s called a quiote, a trunk, that in turn grows flowers and seeds  that are sexually pollinated.

The quiote can also grow small baby agaves on its branches which, when ready, drop to the ground where they root themselves.

The above-mentioned ways of reproduction give the new agaves genetic diversity and food for our friends in the skies, but they are not the favoured way for industrial Tequila/Mezcal producers, as they would lose out on the starches of the matured agave.

The final way, and most common way to cultivate agave fields, is by using the ‘hijuelos’ these are baby agave ‘offshoots’ that grow from the roots of the mother plant. Unfortunately, the hijuelos are in fact clones of the mother agave and therefore genetically identical, making the offshoots susceptible to all kinds of diseases.

The Bat Friendly Tequila and Mezcal Project, started by Dr Rodrigo Medellin, otherwise known as the Bat Man of Mexico, who is a professor at the Institute of Ecology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), encourages producers of agave spirits to allow between 2% and 5% of their agave fields to flower.

Despite Dr Medellin’s relentless efforts of drawing the CRTs attention to the conservation of bats, which are as a result of the above problems an endangered species, by advocating for a small fraction of producer’s crops to mature, flower and be pollinated naturally, almost half of Mexico’s blue agaves ‘Tequilana Weber Azul’ fields are believed to be diseased or even dying.

A few years ago, Rodrigo Medellin joined forces with the Tequila Interchange Project or TIP which is a non-profit organization consisting of everyone from agave enthusiasts to producers to scientists to bartenders. TIP advocates the preservation of sustainable, traditional, and quality practices in the industries of agave distilled spirits, which not only improve our environment but also the quality of life of the hardworking individuals and families that depend on the agave spirits industry. Together, the Bat Man and TIP approach producers and agave growers to show them it’s in everyone’s best interest for some of their agaves to bloom so that one of the most important pollinators of agave, the lesser long-nosed bat, might be able to be brought back from the brink of being a threatened species, and so that agave fields grow healthier and more sustain-ably.

Demand is growing for items, whether it’s clothing, food or drink that are organic and ethically sourced and through that more people, producers and growers will see the benefits of this ever-important issue and follow suit.

The running costs of this fantastic non-profit, which since it’s not a certification program, must come from elsewhere. The producers are sacrificing a number of agaves which they could have transformed into Tequila for us to consume and so it’s our turn to show we care and to show our support for our mother nature.

Alongside this project there are many more people who are either becoming aware of the need for change and a lot of them simply believing it’s always been the way to look after nature or traditions or people.