The Lands We Inherited
For generations, water, wealth, and resources have been extracted from the drylands and mountains of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest — drained from headwaters, grasslands, and Indigenous communities, and funneled outward to distant markets and outside interests. This economy still rewards depletion over renewal.
1–5%
Of typical commercial revenues are retained by the communities, farmers, and ranchers who do the work.
80–95%
Of agave grasslands and riparian habitat have been degraded or lost across the region.
A Climate Crisis
Rising temperatures, wildfire, and drought are accelerating habitat loss across the landscape.
The Keystone Relationship
This vast landscape is stitched together by an ancient symbiosis. Numerous agave species bloom across the drylands and mountains of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest; three species of nectar-feeding bats follow their flowers more than 750 miles during annual migrations between southern Mexico and the Sky Islands and agave grasslands of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Bats pollinate the agaves, and agaves sustain the bats. Protecting and restoring these keystone species protects and enhances the broader ecological and economic networks of plants, pollinators, soil, and people who depend on them.
Lesser long-nosed bat · Bruce D. Taubert, Bat Conservation International
Our Model
A NETWORK OF PARTNERS
Agave growers, wild harvesters, artisanal producers, rural and Indigenous communities, conservation and restoration non-profits, and plant and bat scientists — coordinating planning, sharing standards, and distributing commercial revenue back to the ground.
The Public Benefit Corporation
The industry’s first public benefit company in the category, providing brand, distribution, sales, and marketing across North America for best-in-class mezcal and tequila — legally bound to people and planet.
Our Work
Agave Nation is building and sustaining a comprehensive value chain that runs from native seed and plant science, through regenerative stewardship of wild and farmed agave, to artisanal spirits — and the communities and consumers who care about the future of these landscapes.
Wild seed collection, native plant nurseries, and the plant material that restoration requires.
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Agave and bat research, monitoring, and the knowledge of producers and communities.
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Regenerative care of wild and farmed agave landscapes — restoration over decades.
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Artisanal mezcal and tequila that carry the story forward and fund the system.
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