Innovation in the Tequila Industry: the Agave Fields

por Ramón Rubio Cortés | Dec 25, 2021 5:02:24 PM

innovation in agriculture at the tequila industry

Innovation has always been an important keystone of Casa Sauza and the agricultural area is no exception to it. We have been optimizing our agricultural processes for more than 15 years in order to collect the best plants and thus, produce the best tequila. Innovation in the agave fields has allowed us to improve our processes in the agricultural management, in making the activities easier to carry out and in reducing the risks to which workers in the tequila industry are exposed to. Likewise, it has also made possible to mechanize some labors, which allows us to establish plantations in places where the work force is scarce.

 

Innovation with the agave "pups": Micro-propagation

Ever since 2002, we have been using micro-propagated plants in order to be sure of the health of our plants from the moment they leave our laboratory, as well as to reduce the heterogeneity of their size.

In order to carry out micro-propagation, we choose those pups (baby agaves) with visible high vigor and apparently healthy, which come from plants that look healthy as well. They are taken to the lab, where they are cut and then different small, undifferentiated pieces are selected (still tender). Then, by means of different laboratory techniques, the plants are reproduced and by the time they finish their process, they are pathogen/plague free.

The use of micro-propagated plants helps to reduce the spreading of phytosanitary problems and thus, better meet the phytosanitary regulations.

Innovation in the handling of the agave crops

Innovating the type of plant that we use in our agave fields has also led to innovating in the management of our crops. Regular agave pups (not micro-propagated) are latent, their response to the environment is slower since it is only until the rain falls that they do begin to activate and produce roots. Micropropagated plants on the other hand, respond and produce roots from the moment they are planted in the field, so they have a greater growth potential. However, they can also show damage faster (due to inappropriate handling, such as nutritional imbalances and poor application of herbicides).

Having changed the paradigm that said that agave pups could only be planted and starting thus planting with micro-propagation, brought the need to innovate in the transport system of the plants as well, in their loading and unloading and in the use of planting machines, especially in those regions where there is not enough work force due to the competition that exists with other segments or production systems.

We designed planting machines that adapted to the technology that was being used back then, but they also have been evolving with time an are constantly being adapted to the current technology.

innovation of machinery and planting agave

This also led to an improvement in the selection of our herbicide products, as well as in the design of procedures that would reduce the drift of their application towards the crop. Suitable attachments and nozzles were therefore chosen in order to better direct the applications of the product to our target areas.

We also worked with the application of pre-emergent herbicides (products that are used to reduce germination of weed seeds) that don't dissolve in water, which led to the adaptation of our equipment so that it could apply the herbicides before the rain season arrived.

 

fertilizing machinery for agriculture

Nutrition of the agave plant

Many projects have been carried out for a long time in order to better understand:

  • The amount of nutrients a plant consumes
  • The effects that the soil's pH has on the plant's intake of these nutrients
  • The way in which we can apply them

With the data that we got from the extraction of nutrients as well as from the contribution that they provide to the soil, we designed mixtures in our lab that cover the needs of each cycle of the crop. This makes the contribution of nutrients more efficient since it is designed according to the pH of the soil and the age of the crop.

We then realized we needed to have a fertilizer that could handle the kind of land in which we plant our agaves without suffering constant damages. This damages used to happen a lot with commercial fertilizers so we had to work on an design that was exclusive for the agave fields.

Once we had our fertilizer, we found a way to pair this machine with the pre-emergent herbicide applicator. By doing so, we simultaneously reduced the passing of our machinery (decreasing thus the compaction of the soil) and our fuel consumption.

Caring for our staff in the cultivation of agave

In the handling of crops, there are times when the unique structure of the agave plant represents possible damage to our staff, so we must first trim the agave plant. As this trimming is very time-consuming, we have looked at several machines that would trim faster and reduce the risks that our laborers undertake, and although we've found some that actually do the job, we are still trying to find something that does the best job.

innovation at the agave fields casa sauza

At the same time, just like we've innovated in both procedures and machinery, we have also innovated in safety equipment for our operators, both for the management of crops as well as for the jima (cropping of the agave plant itself).

jima of the agave, agave cropping casa sauza

Environmental care in the cultivation of agave

Another important achievement we've made, is having implemented -and still preserve- the Organic Certification program for Agave and Tequila; which has reduced the impact to the environment without sacrificing our performance and productivity, and giving a plus with our organic tequila.

There are lots of information on agricultural topics, keep reading our articles in order to find out more about the production of tequila. 

Come and visit Casa Sauza and witness how the modernization of our tequila production processes deliver the purest tequila in the market.

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