"Tequila is causing lots of headaches"

"Agave growers are being pinched by a glutted market"

Adapted from: Sean Martin, Mexico Correspondent -- S.A. Express - News, Wednesday, December 26, 2007.

"TEQUILA, Mexico -- Around the time the millenium turned, armed guards protected agave plantations from robbers.

"Such was the high price of the primary ingredient of Mexico's national firewater.

"These days there's so much agave azul that farmers are selling it well below cost -- if they're lucky enough to find a buyer at all.

"Some 1.5 million metric tons of ripe agave came onto the market in 2007, and the tequila industry will use only half of it.

"A similar surplus is expected in 2008."