The problem with farming opuntia ficus indica, & the solution for making it strong again

But, uh, today's podcast, we're gonna be talking about a topic that I've been discussing a lot with some of my friends, which is why Opuntia ficus-indica is such a shitty plant, and maybe some of the stuff that we could do to fix that, right? So to put it into context, um, you know, Opuntia ficus-indica, there's probably millions of acres of it grown around the world, and, um, most of it is propagated by clone.

And sort of like the Agave angustifolia, uh, subspecies tequiliana, cultivar Blue Weber, as, uh, that goes into tequila, that can solely be the species that tequila is made from, as well as the main species in mezcal, ninety-nine plus percent probably, which is Agave angustifolia subspecies espadin.

And both these are Agave angustifolia, uh, subspecies, right? They're both part of, uh, the angustifolia complex.

But sort of like, uh, these Agave, most of the Opuntia ficus-indica cultivation is coming from pads.

Now, that's due to a lot of different factors.

But it's almost like the same exact story with the Agave in that, uh, most of the new farms are being propagated from clones of older farms, and that's because, uh, just like Agave seeds here, uh, cacti seed propagation is relatively unknown and new to most cactus farmers.

Um, most people are, you know, poor propagators of cactus, I'd say, compared to r- uh, a lot of other different species.

Now, like I said, this is due to cactus being newer on the cultivation timeline than, say, roses or, say, you know, trees or different type of stuff that people have had, you know, more experience with for a longer portion of time.

And because of all the, uh, new farms being propagated from clones, uh, it's the same thing in Agave, where the genetic, uh, diversity of Opuntia ficus-indica is so low that they pretty much all deal with the same issues, even thousands of miles away on different continents, right? So, uh, I've done a podcast on, um, how North African nations are dealing with cochineal, and they have hundreds of thousands of acres of, uh, cochineal planted.

And, um, m- a lot of that production is starting to die out because of cochineal.

And, uh, you know, there's, there's lots of different, um, you know, areas around the world where Opunca...

Opuntia ficus-indica is dying, you know, uh, you know, r- i- in really large quantities.

And here's the thing, like before, for the past decades, maybe even century, most of Opuntia ficus-indica cochineal and plagues, insects, all of these things that affect the plant, have been dealt with by chemicals.

So just like Agave, it's, it, it's insane how similar these are, right? Uh, these two stories.

But just like Agave, it's been sprayed to shit, and this cactus almost, you know, in many areas cannot grow without these chemicals, right? So they're needed for its, uh, prosperity, you could say, because it's gotten so weak genetically it can't fight the insects, the disease, the fungi on its own anymore.Uh, that they have to chemically spray it.

Which means too, if you want to do like stuff that I'm doing, like dry farming with no chemicals, um, indigenous knowledge type agriculture, then you kind of get screwed because if you buy these pads, um, you end up starting your farm with very, very weak genetics.

And, um, you know, because you're not following the same protocol of chemical spraying, tillage, and, uh, those plants, uh, they can't combat that stuff on their own and end up dying most of the time, right? So I learned this the hard way by buying a bunch of, uh, Opuntia ficus-indica from Mexico, like a bulk order.