Is tequila on the rocks? The subsequent time you order a margarita, you may be holding back greater than the salted rim.
Extreme weather throughout the past few years in Mexico and other areas of the world has hurt crop production of the bottom and fundamental ingredient in tequila, in accordance with Everstream Analytics’ chief meteorologist Jon Davis.
“At a time when large agave crops are needed to fulfill demand, the acute weather in Mexico is increasing the issues and the potential for scarcity of the product,” Davis said.
The succulent crop can withstand a terrific deal of stress from drought.
Nevertheless, when conditions are this extreme, even a crop like agave suffers, Davis adds.
The agave crop has been grown for hundreds of years in tropical regions of the world but native to Mexico.
Davis said when the agave is harvested, the sap is extracted and used to provide pulque, which is the bottom ingredient for mezcal (or tequila).
The most important agave producer on this planet is Mexico, and it’s grown across many of the country, apart from the country’s northwest states.
“Global demand for tequila has been on the high side throughout the past few years, which has increased the necessity for giant agave harvests to satisfy demand,” Davis said.
Will the agave crop production improve anytime soon?
The difficulty currently in Mexico is extreme dryness, in accordance with Davis.
The majority of the country has had an especially dry winter together with well above normal-temperatures.
The map below depicts the percent of normal precipitation this 12 months (Jan. 1 – March 12). A lot of the country has had well below normal-precipitation.
“Precipitation totals across much of the country have been lower than 25% of normal with large sections having totals lower than 10% and 5% of normal,” Davis said. “These are extremely low, and in lots of cases, record-setting over this long of a period – two and half months.”
The exception to the dryness has been within the northwest sections of the country, like in Baja California, which just isn’t major producing areas for agave in Mexico.
Davis said the acute dryness has been accompanied by well-above-normal winter temperatures, especially in a single southern Mexico town, which is a significant agave growing area.
“An example of the acute heat occurred in late February (Feb. 27) when Puente Mezcal reached a extreme temperature of 110.5 degrees,” Davis said. “This was the most well liked temperature within the Northern Hemisphere throughout the month of February.”
The mixture of utmost dryness and strange winter warmth has depleted soil moisture reserves and intensified the drought across Mexico, in accordance with Davis.
Looking ahead, Davis said there isn’t a indication of any improvement within the situation because the dry pattern continues into the spring.
