The Billion Agave Project is a game-changing, ecosystem-regeneration approach just recently embraced by several cutting-edge Mexican ranches in the high-desert region of Guanajuato. With your assistance, we’ve been the key group to contribute to Organic Consumers Association sustaining this important project that is currently proven to green deserts and provide both food and income for a few of the world’s most tested farmers.
This strategy integrates the expanding of agave plants and nitrogen-fixing buddy tree types (such as mesquite), with holistic rotational grazing of animals. The outcome is a high-biomass, high forage-yielding system that works well even on broken down, semi-arid lands. A policy on mesquite is available in English1 and Español.2.
The system creates huge amounts of agave fallen leave and root stem– approximately 1 ton of biomass over the 8- to 10-year life of the plant. When chopped and fermented in closed containers, this plant product produces a superb, inexpensive (2 cents per pound) animal straw.
This agroforestry system minimizes the stress to overgraze fragile rangelands and enhances dirt health and wellness and water retention, while attracting down and saving enormous amounts of climatic carbon dioxide (CO2).
The goal of the Billion Agave campaign is to plant 1 billion agaves internationally to attract down and shop 1 billion tons of climate-destabilizing CO2. The project will certainly be moneyed by donations and public and private financial investments.
Why Agave?
Climate-Change Solution.
Agave plants and nitrogen-fixing trees, largely intercropped and cultivated with each other, have the capacity to draw down and withdraw huge amounts of climatic CO2.
They also produce much more above-ground and below-ground biomass (and animal fodder) on a continuous year-to-year basis than any type of various other desert or semi-desert varieties. Agaves alone can draw down and shop over ground the dry-weight matching of 30 to 60 tons of CO2 per hectare (12 to 24 loads per acre) per year.
Perfect for warm and dry climates, agaves and their companion trees, when developed, need no watering and are essentially impervious to rising worldwide temperatures and dry spell.
Livestock Feed Source.
Agave leaves, full of lectins and saponins, are indigestible for animals. As soon as their huge fallen leaves (high in sugar) are sliced finely by means of a maker and fermented in closed containers for 30 days, the end product offers a nutritious and cost-effective silage or animal straw.
This agave/companion tree silage, incorporated with the restoration of degraded rangelands, can make the distinction between survival and grinding destitution for countless the globe’s small farmers and herdsmans.
Drought-Resistant.
Agaves need little-to-no irrigation. They thrive even in completely dry, abject lands unsuitable for crop manufacturing due to their Crassulacean acid metabolic process (CAM) photosynthetic pathway.
The CAM pathway enables agave plants to draw down wetness from the air and store it in their thick fallen leaves at night. Throughout daylight hours, the opening in their leaves (the stomata) closes up, substantially decreasing dissipation.
A New Agroforestry Model.
A pioneering team of Mexican farmers is transforming their landscape and their resources. Just how? By densely planting (1,600 to 2,500 per hectare), trimming and intercropping a fast-growing, high-biomass, high forage-yielding varieties of agaves amongst preexisting (500 per hectare) ingrained, nitrogen-fixing tree species (such as mesquite), or among grown tree seedlings.
When the agaves are 3 years of ages, and for the following 5 to seven years, farmers can trim the pencas or leaves, slice them up carefully with a machine, and after that ferment the agave in closed containers for 30 days, ideally integrating the agave leaves with 20% of leguminous shells and branches by quantity to provide a higher protein level.
In Guanajuato, mesquite trees start to generate pods that can be collected in five years. By Year 7, the mesquite and agaves have actually become a fairly thick forest. In Years 8 to 10, the root stem or pina (weighing in between 100 and 200 pounds) of the agave awaits collecting to create a distilled alcohol called mescal.
Meanwhile the hijuelos (or dogs) put out by the mother agave plants are being constantly hair transplanted back right into the agroforestry system, ensuring continual biomass development (and carbon storage space).
In this agroforestry system farmers prevent overgrazing by incorporating rotational grazing of their animals throughout their rangelands. They feed their animals by supplementing field forage with fermented agave silage.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/03/07/the-billion-agave-project-mar-2021.aspx
This strategy integrates the expanding of agave plants and nitrogen-fixing companion tree varieties (such as mesquite), with holistic rotational grazing of animals. By largely growing (1,600 to 2,500 per hectare), pruning and intercropping a fast-growing, high-biomass, high forage-yielding varieties of agaves amongst preexisting (500 per hectare) deep-rooted, nitrogen-fixing tree types (such as mesquite), or among planted tree plants.
In Guanajuato, mesquite trees start to produce skins that can be collected in five years. By Year 7, the mesquite and agaves have actually grown into a rather thick forest. In Years 8 to 10, the root stem or pina (considering in between 100 and 200 pounds) of the agave is ready for harvesting to produce a distilled alcohol called mescal.