Children of Agave Film Screening
In the agave fields of contemporary rural México, a new silhouette of masculinity takes shape. Work, fatherhood, and nature intertwine throughout a workday with three men whose sensitivity and idiosyncrasies warmly depict the legendary craft of the jimador, challenging the stereotype of the Mexican macho.
For more information-
http://www.filmfestivalarizona.com
Conservation Tour and Plant Sale
Guided Tour: 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Meet at the Borderlands Nursery & Seed!
Plant Sale: 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Explore the innovative conservation efforts of Borderlands Restoration Network and Bat Conservation International against the stunning backdrop of Patagonia, Arizona. This event features a guided tour of restoration sites, nectar-feeding bat conservation projects, and a native plant sale to support regional agave conservation efforts, showcasing species that enhance regional sustainability, support wildlife, and foster biodiversity.
RSVP for the tour ASAP to secure your spot!
Support the vital efforts of these organizations by visiting the donation pages for Borderlands Restoration Network and Bat Conservation International. Your contribution helps advance their impactful work in conservation and biodiversity.
Tumamoc Hill Tour
Explore the slopes of Tumamoc Hill on a guided hike to learn about the natural and cultural history of Tucson and the Sonoran Desert. This tour offers insights into the ecology, cultural history, and desert adaptations that have shaped this unique landscape and agave farming and resilience. Enjoy stunning views while discovering how agave has played a vital role in the region’s past and present.
Join us at the base of Tumamoc Hill for this exceptional hike led by Robert Villa, as he shares his passion and love for the Sonoran Desert!
Agave Talks and Tastings
EVENT SPONSORS
UA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES | UA CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
MEZCALISTAS | TEQUILA INTERCHANGE PROJECT | SOUTHWEST FOLKLIFE ALLIANCE
Drop-in Panels and Mezcal Tastings: 11:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Panels - All Ages, Tasting -21+| FREE
Explore the cultural, agricultural, and market potential of agave in this interactive, drop-in series. Featuring expert-led panels, mezcal tastings from our amazing partners Raices Imports and Origen Raíz del Espíritu and sponsor showcases, this session highlights sustainable agriculture, cross-border collaboration, and creative innovations shaping the future of agave.
RSVP today for this amazing opportunity to connect with experts, taste regional agave spirits, and explore agave’s role in conservation, culture, and art!
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: Beyond Distillates: Agave’s Legacy in Art, Food, and Fiber
Ryan Kashanipour (University of Arizona) as moderator
Angelica Afanador Pujol (Arizona State University)
Valeria Canedo (Polinizador Social para la Conservación y Empoderamiento Rural)
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Rooted Across Borders: Sustainable Agave Cultivation
Leonela Baez (Centro de Colaboración para la Ciencia y Cultura) as moderator
Rachel Burke (Bat Conservation International)
Francesca Claverie (Borderlands Restoration Network)
Julie Figueras (The Lost Explorer)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Partner Tabling and Tasting Break
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: From the Ground Up: Community Building for Agave Collaboration
Francisco Terrazas (Raices Imports, Tequila Interchange Project) as moderator
Misty Kalkofen (Siembra Spirits, Liquid Productions)
Niki Nakazawa (Neta Spirits)
Bildo Saravia (Origen Raiz Del Espiritu)
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Living Landscapes: Agave Conservation for Ecological and Desert Resilience
Caitlyn Hall (Agave Heritage Festival, Next Generation of Sonoran Desert Researchers) as moderator
Marsella Macias (University of New Mexico, Chelenzo Farms)
Chava Rosales Trejo (Tequila Cascahuin)
Randy Young (La Tierra del Jaguar)
RSVP today! Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with experts, taste regional agave spirits, and explore agave’s role in sustainability and cultural resilience!
Agave Lifetime Career Award Lecture
Lecture Explore and Learn Before the Lecture: 9:00 - 10:00 AM | All Ages
Lecture: 10:00 - 11:30 AM | All Ages
Open Garden Hours: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM | All Ages
The Next Generation of Sonoran Desert Researchers (N-Gen) and the Agave Heritage Festival Lifetime Career Award honors those whose work is a cornerstone in understanding agave’s cultural and ecological significance, shaping the agave world we love today.
This year, we recognize Paul and Suzy Fish's pioneering research on ancient agave cultivation and its role in the Sonoran Desert’s rich history. Through decades of archaeological and ecological work, they have uncovered how traditional farming practices shaped the landscape and its thriving communities. In their talk, Paul and Suzy will reveal hidden landscapes and share how ancient farmers used to grow agave in the Tucson basin.
Before the lecture, explore Mission Garden, Tucson’s living agricultural museum. Partners like La Tierra del Jaguar will share their conservation work rooted in the Sonoran Desert. Walk among heritage crops—including agave plantings tied to the traditions Paul and Suzy have studied—and connect with a landscape that has sustained desert communities for generations.
Suzy and Paul Fish
Suzanne (Suzy) Fish, PhD, Curator Emerita and Professor Emerita, specializes in Hohokam archaeology and Sonoran Desert ethnobotany, with her experimental work on Tumamoc’s agave fields advancing public understanding of ancient dryland farming techniques.
Paul Fish, PhD, is Curator Emeritus at the Arizona State Museum and Professor Emeritus, with expertise in Neolithic societies, regional landscapes, and pre-Hispanic agriculture across the Americas.
Book Signing Event: Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico
12-2pm | FREE | All Ages
Join us for an exclusive book signing event with acclaimed author Ted Genoways as he presents his latest work, Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico. This gripping historical account uncovers the untold story of how tequila became a global icon, tracing the Cuervo family’s rise amid fierce rivalries, political upheaval, and battles for control over Mexico’s most celebrated spirit.
Genoways, an award-winning journalist and historian, is known for his compelling narratives that explore the intersections of history, industry, and power. His latest book offers a riveting dive into the world of tequila, revealing the clandestine deals, wartime survival tactics, and international trade disputes that shaped the industry as we know it today.
Meet the author, get your copy signed, and immerse yourself in the fascinating history of tequila at this special event during the Agave Heritage Festival. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with one of the leading voices in historical and cultural storytelling!
Agave Roasting Lecture
10:30 - 11:30 am | FREE | ALL AGES
Come learn more about the Kumeyaay practices of agave roasting with a talk by Dr. Stanley Rodriguez.
Dr. Rodriguez, member of the Kumeyaay Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation, is an educator, language teacher, and tribal singer. He is an advocate for his community’s culture and traditions and serves in a number of advising and teaching roles in the San Diego and Native Kumeyaay communities. He has held the elected position of legislator for the Santa Ysabel Tribe of the Iipay Nation. Dr. Rodriguez is a US Navy veteran, has a PhD in Higher Education from UCSD, worked as a Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counselor, and has been President of Kumeyaay Community College since 2018.
Partnering with Mission Garden!
Mission Garden is a living agricultural museum in Tucson, Arizona, rooted in community knowledge and collaboration. As a project of Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace, this outdoor educational space brings history to life by growing heritage crops and heirloom trees using traditional, arid-adapted farming techniques. These practices are refined through both ancestral knowledge and modern science, offering practical lessons for sustainable agriculture in the Sonoran Desert.
As part of the U.S.’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, the Garden reconnects people to the region’s multicultural agricultural heritage while promoting resilient, climate-conscious farming practices.
Learn more and support their work!
Agave Renaissance Summit
EVENT SPONSORS
CASTLE HOT SPRINGS | W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION | UA SOUTHWEST CENTER
A Future Inspired By Agave
9am-6pm | Free | 21+
*Registration with approved invitation only
The 2025 Summit will be a day of action focused on bringing the vision of the City of Century plants to reality.
Tucson and Southern Arizona can be the Region of Century Plants: uniting communities across borders to foster agave sustainability, cultural heritage, and economic resilience for future generations.
However, we are not there yet. Actions across stakeholder groups are needed to elevate the roles and relationships between people and the agave plant in the modern era. Getting from here to there is the focus of the 2025 Agave Renaissance Summit.
The day-long Summit builds from the conversations and Agave Summits in Tucson in 2023 and Sonora 2024 of the past couple years and focuses on several critical topic areas of action.
Friday April 11, 2025
9 am to 6 pm, Hotel Congress
MORNING SESSIONS
Desert Adapted Heritage Foods
Moderated by:
Patty Emmert, Local First Arizona
Jonathan Mabry, Tucson City of Gastronomy
Market Expansion of Bacanora into the US
Moderated by:
Francisco Terrazas, Tequila Interchange Project
Susan Coss, Mezcalistas
Arts and Storytelling
Moderated by:
Logan Phillips, Dirty Verbs
Robert Villa, Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
Business, Branding, Sense of Place with Agave as the Anchor
Moderated by:
Rafael Barceló Durazo, Consul of Mexico in Tucson, Arizona
Marisol Vindiola, Orange 142
Bat Friendly & Beyond, creating a label for agave sustainability in the borderlands
Moderated by:
Alfredo Leal Sandoval, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa
Benjamin T. Wilder, Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers
Open for topic established day of
2025 Agave Renaissance Summit Fellowship Application
We are considering fellowship applications for Agave Producers in Northern Mexico AND Student/Early Career/Indigenous fellows to support your attendance at the 2025 Summit and Festival. Fellowships will be for a set amount (TBD, no less than $250 USD per person) to cover any expenses needed and will be distributed in cash at the Summit.
Thank you to all applicants - the fellowship application has closed. We are excited to see you at the Summit!
Tucson City of Century Plants
How Agaves Have Shaped Landscapes & Cultures
in the Old Pueblo
Agave Roast Pit Uncovering
5:30 - 7:30 pm | FREE | ALL AGES
Come experience an agave roast and learn about these plants’ many uses! Members of the Kumeyaay tribe, led by Dr. Stanley Rodriguez, will demonstrate their methods of roasting agave hearts, then share samples of this sweet, unique food.
Dr. Stanley Rodriguez, member of the Kumeyaay Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation, is an educator, language teacher, and tribal singer. He is an advocate for his community’s culture and traditions and serves in a number of advising and teaching roles in the San Diego and Native Kumeyaay communities. He has been President of Kumeyaay Community College since 2018.
Partnering with Mission Garden!
Mission Garden is a living agricultural museum in Tucson, Arizona, rooted in community knowledge and collaboration. As a project of Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace, this outdoor educational space brings history to life by growing heritage crops and heirloom trees using traditional, arid-adapted farming techniques. These practices are refined through both ancestral knowledge and modern science, offering practical lessons for sustainable agriculture in the Sonoran Desert.
As part of the U.S.’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, the Garden reconnects people to the region’s multicultural agricultural heritage while promoting resilient, climate-conscious farming practices.
Learn more and support their work!
Howard Scott Gentry Lecture
EVENT SPONSORS
UA SOUTHWEST CENTER | W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION | ZINACANTAN MEZCAL | YWCA | CHICANOS POR LA CAUSA
The Howard Scott Gentry Award was established in 2017 by Dr. Gary Nabhan and the Agave Heritage Festival to recognize leaders in binational collaborative research on agave conservation and use.
In 2025, we recognize Diana Pinzón and Faby Torres Monfils for their leadership and uncompromising commitment to core values of the cultural and ecological connections and foundations that support mezcal production.
Lecture: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Conversations: 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Previous Gentry Awardees
2017: Ana Guadalupe Valenzuela Zapata
2018: Patricia Coluinga and Daniel Zizumbo Villareal
2019: Tony Burgess (Listen below!)
2022: Luis Egiarte and Valeria Souza
2023: Carlos Camarena
Gary Nabhan (Honorary Gentry Award)
2024: César Iván Ojeda Linares
2025: Diana Carolina Pinzón and Fabiola “Faby” Torres Monfils
Howard Scott Gentry (1903 - 1993) was a botanist, ethnographer, and agricultural explorer recognized as the world’s leading authority on agaves.
Dr. Gentry made his first field trip to the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico in 1933. He spent most of the next twenty years exploring and recording the plant life of northwestern Mexico, captured in among other works his beautiful work Rio Mayo Plants, documenting the plants and ethnobotanical knowledge of the northern Sierra Madre. He worked for the United States Department of Agriculture from 1950 to 1971 as an agricultural explorer traveling the world to collect useful plants. He was then a research botanist with the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona , where he pursued his investigations into agave, culminating in the seminal Agaves of Continental North America. Late in his life, he continued his work with arid land crops at his Experimental Farm in Murrieta, CA until his last day.
The Gentry Award recognizes and aims to perpetuate what Dr. Gentry’s recognized as the Human-Agave Symbiosis, in which, “the uses of agave are as many as the arts of man have found it convenient to devise."
For more information on the life and work of Dr. Gentry, please see this 1994 article by Isabel Shipley Cunningham, “Howard Scott Gentry, 1903–1993.“
Caption of picture: Howard Scott Gentry, February 1981. Photo by Richard Felger.
Agave - The Tree of Wonders
1:15-2PM | FREE | ALL AGES
Known as "The Tree of Wonders", the agave has been celebrated in native cultures for centuries throughout the American Southwest and Mexico. That tradition continues today in Tucson's Agave Heritage Festival, April 10th- 13th, 2025. Narrated by Arizona Master Naturalist & SAGU VIP Dan Collins, The Amazing Agave presentation is an intriguing overview of "all things agave".
Agave Planting at Mission Garden
8-11am | FREE | All Ages
EVENT SPONSORS
UA CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES | BEACH FLEISCHMAN
Be part of history and the future! Join us at Mission Garden to plant agave in the traditional Hohokam style, inspired by ancient plantings on Tumamoc Hill. These agave plants will provide food for bat pollinators and may even become part of a future festival’s roasting pit.
No experience is needed, and families are encouraged to join! We’ll provide all tools and gloves—just bring your enthusiasm, long pants, and a hat for sun protection.
AHF Pre-Launch Event at Alton Brown's Show
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Women’s Plaza Next to Centennial Hall
Open to everyone | FREE | Before the Show
Celebrate Agave at Alton Brown’s Last Bite Tour! Indulge in a special Sonoran mezcal-driven cocktail crafted exclusively for the evening. While you sip, explore the rich history and culture of agave—a plant that has shaped the culinary, ecological, and cultural traditions of the Sonoran Desert for generations.
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Women’s Plaza Next to Centennial Hall
Open to everyone| FREE | Before the Show
Indulge in a special Sonoran mezcal-driven cocktail crafted exclusively for the evening. While you sip, explore the rich history and culture of agave—a plant that has shaped the culinary, ecological, and cultural traditions of the Sonoran Desert for generations.
