On hillsides, in rocky fields, neatly lined up and free of weeds, agaves are now abundant in the Mexican countryside. The fruit of these majestic succulent plants native to Mesoamerica contains a nectar which, fermented and then distilled, becomes tequila or mezcal, the country's two iconic strong spirits.

Until the 1990s, you had to climb into the woods or wander the deserts to see them. Agaves were wild and grew freely among trees and cacti. Peasants always had some in their fields, between corn and beans, to distill mezcal in rudimentary alembics, which was given away more than it was sold. Only the Tequila region in the state of Jalisco already had intensive agave monocultures to produce the tequila so highly prized on the American market.

However, since mezcal has become just as sought-after internationally, the landscape of the Mexican countryside has been turned upside down. In 2022, Mexico produced 14.5 million liters, exported to 81 countries, compared to 1.4 million in 2014. The number of producers has risen from 3,000 a decade ago to over 25,000 today. "This commercial success has blinded producers to the environmental damage of the activity. The creation of a controlled designation of origin has made no difference: Both the surface area and land expansion have only increased," explained José Blancas Vazquez, an ethnobiologist at the University of Cuernavaca.

In 1994, Mexico created this designation to regulate its sale: Originally, it was limited to five states, including Oaxaca, which is still responsible for over 90% of production. To be able to put the word "mezcal" on their bottles, Mexican states simply have to demonstrate that its production is a local tradition. "It's not very difficult; mezcal is produced in all rural areas of the country and always has been," added the professor.

Within a few years, 11 states had obtained the denomination, before the Mexican Council for the Regulation of Mezcal Quality (COMARCA) pleaded quality deterioration in court and put the brakes on the expansion. However, the absence of a denomination in no way hindered the proliferation of agave plantations. This was the case in the state of Morelos, south of Mexico City, which still has no denomination, but has more and more agaves.

In Palpan de Baranda, a town of 2,000 inhabitants on the border with the state of Guerrero, Jesus Sotelo gave a tour of his land in his pick-up truck. The well-defined path cuts through the 40 hectares of orderly rows of blue agaves. On the right are the five-year-old trees, on the left the most recent ones, planted in 2022. At the far end of the land, you can see the first shoots already receiving their dose of pesticides.

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