The interesting case of Agave Utahensis cultivation in China, & what California farmers could learn from it

So as I was talking to my friend, um, you know, I was mentioning to him, I'm like, you know, when I first started seeding out Agave utensis and cultivating it maybe, you know, I don't know, like seven, eight years ago, there was a lot of interest from buyers in China, but I didn't, uh, have the ability to ship to China at that moment, uh, Agave seeds and Agave plants.

So I unfortunately wasn't able to capture a piece of the boom, you could say, right? Because, um, anywhere from seven to 10 years ago, there really was a, a huge spike, you know, I would say since the dawn of social media, right? Since social media started getting really popular, like Instagram and YouTube and all these things, maybe in the late, uh, you know, not late, but, uh, in the 2010s, mid-2010s, uh, say around 2014, 2015 when these apps and, uh, the sites had developed already and matured, um, you know, lots of Agave started being posted obviously, and people, you know, learned about Agave utensis and wanted it all over the world, which led to, you know, unfortunately a large, uh, amount of Agave utensis being poached out of the United States and taken all over the world, you know? Uh, a lot of people, you know, they place blame on China, but it really is a global trade and a global problem, right? I mean, I know people that have Agave utensis that I, I can't, like, confirm for sure that it's wild, but it looks very wild to me.

And, you know, I see it all over the world and, um, you know, you ask the question sometimes, well, when these plants look basically how they do in the wild, how did they get these plants, right? But, you know, you can't judge anyone for sure, right? I just suspect a lot of the plants are wild collected and, you know, taken all over the world.

But, um, yeah, today's podcast is specifically about the Chinese Agave utensis market, right? And what we can learn as California farmers.

And it's real interesting because you could say at first, you know, maybe a, a significant portion of the importation of Agave utensis to China was, you know, poached or whatever at first.

But, you know, once people saw there was a market in it, there was many legal sellers of it that, you know, shipped it to China with phytosanitary.

So once again, it's like I can't really judge any of the Chinese Agave utensis cultivators because they could have well gotten a recycled plant that was wild and, uh, bought it legally with tags and everything and phytosanitary and got it shipped to China, you know? But I say a significant portion was probably poached at the beginning, um, of the development of their Agave utensis market because, you know, it just grew so rapidly, uh, and these plants can only grow so quickly, right? So now I more understand why they have so many plants because it's been, you know, a decade or more of, you know, huge interest of, uh, cultivators in China.

And not only China, by the way, Japan and Korea and different Asian countries like Thailand as well, and, uh, Malaysia are really heavy Agave collectors, uh, I'd say, and cultivators, you know? Like I've shipped plants to, uh, all those countries and, um, you know, it's real interesting, um, their fascination with hybridizing and creating new cultivars and stuff as well.

Uh, the Japanese, uh, are probably, I would say besides the Californians and the Mexicans, the Japanese are like the best breeders and hybridizers I've seen around the world.

You know, we got my boy Tiran Uh, agave over there in Iran.

That guy's fucking doing some pretty sick-ass hybrids and cultivars as well.

There's people in the Middle East, right? And, you know, in Europe, and, uh, you know, all over the Americas.

There's people all over the world breeding agave, right? Like, you know, we got Hans Hansen over there fucking making new mangaves every year, right? Uh, pretty cool stuff.

Um, but yeah, this, uh, Agave utensis in China.