The agave category is booming. Sales are up. Shelves are full. Celebrity brands multiply. Excel says everything is fine…
Modern tequila production relies on cloned agave, chemical intervention, compressed maturation, and supply chains that strip value from the very farmers who sustain the plant. Meanwhile bars brag about sustainable tomatoes and grass fed beef while pouring industrial spirits with catastrophic environmental and cultural consequences.
Welcome to David Suro’s fight.
David Suro explains why one agave mother plant can produce up to 10,000 viable seeds yet the industry prioritizes five offshoot clones. Why genetic collapse forces pesticide dependence. Why jimadores with generational wisdom are migrating because the economics no longer reward stewardship. And why the United States, as the largest consumer of agave spirits in the world, has more power than it realizes.
If you care about sustainability, terroir, craft, or culture, this conversation is for you.
Expect to Learn:
- Why cloning agave is accelerating ecological vulnerability
- The hidden cost of harvesting agave before full maturity
- How bat friendly reproduction restores genetic strength
- The cultural sustainability crisis few are discussing
- A simple purchasing framework that protects families and land
Links:
- Siembra Spirits
- Instagram: @DavidSurop
- Agave Spirits by Gary Paul Nabhan and David Suro
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- #64:Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers