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{Nature_and_Environment.87.12}: ... {wren1111} Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:14:06 EDT (25 lines)
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<b>Mexicans torch tequila fields for ethanol boom corn</b>
"http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2924142520070529
"

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican farmers are setting ablaze fields of
blue agave, the cactus-like plant used to make the fiery spirit
tequila, and resowing the land with corn as soaring U.S. ethanol
demand pushes up prices.

The switch to corn will contribute to an expected scarcity of agave
in coming years, with officials predicting that farmers will plant
between 25 percent and 35 percent less agave this year to turn the
land over to corn.

"Those growers are going after what pays best now," said Ismael
Vicente Ramirez, head of agriculture at Mexico's Tequila Regulatory
Council.

The large, spiky-leaved agave thrives on high, arid land and can
take eight years to reach maturity. To remove the plants, growers
cut them at their stems and often burn the fields to remove the
roots.

Tequila, drunk in shots and cocktails around the world, is named
after a town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.

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