This article is part of my FAQs series.
For well over a decade, I have been answering anonymously submitted questions on my Tumblr blog. Over that time, I have noticed many recurring themes, concerns, and misunderstandings.
This series brings together concise, practical responses to the questions I am asked most often, based on real conversations with people at every stage of thinking about veganism.
If you’d like to see more entries in this series, you can find them here.
The Short Answer
Agave is not inherently unethical, and the claim that vegans are harming bats by replacing honey with agave is misleading.
The decline of long-nosed bats has multiple possible causes, and agave nectar represents only a tiny fraction of total agave production. Most agave is used for tequila and mezcal, not as a honey substitute. While agave farming can raise legitimate conservation concerns, blaming vegans for bat decline is an oversimplification.
If someone has concerns about agave, they can easily avoid it – veganism does not require consuming agave.
The Detail
The Origin of the Argument
This criticism gained traction after a couple of widely shared articles highlighted concerns about agave harvesting and its potential connection to declining populations of long-nosed bats, particularly the Mexican long-nosed bat and lesser long-nosed bat.
The argument presented online is typically:
“Vegans boycott honey to protect bees, but then consume agave nectar, which harms bats. Therefore veganism causes more harm.”
This framing relies on some problematic assumptions.
A False Dilemma
First, it assumes that replacing honey with agave is necessary. Honey is not a dietary necessity, and neither is agave. There are many alternatives to honey, including:
- Maple syrup
- Golden syrup
- Molasses
- Date syrup
- Sugar-based syrups
- Or simply using no sweetener at all
There is no forced choice between honey and agave. Presenting the issue as if those are the only two options creates a false dichotomy.
What Is Causing Bat Decline?
The second assumption is that agave harvesting is definitively responsible for bat population decline.
Conservationists have noted that agave plants are an important food source for certain long-nosed bats, and that some agricultural practices (particularly harvesting agave before flowering), may reduce nectar availability.
However, bat decline is complex and likely influenced by multiple factors, including:
- Habitat loss
- Pesticide use
- Land conversion for agriculture and livestock
- Direct human interference
- Destruction of bat colonies
Some conservation groups have also reported that ranchers attempting to control vampire bats have destroyed cave-dwelling bat colonies indiscriminately. To present agave nectar consumption as the primary driver, and then attribute that to vegans, is a convenient oversimplification of the issue.
Where Most Agave Actually Goes
The vast majority of agave harvested globally is used in the production of tequila and mezcal. Agave nectar represents a very small proportion of total agave use, and vegans represent a very small proportion of agave nectar consumers.
If agave cultivation is contributing to ecological harm, the primary driver is the alcohol industry, not plant-based sweeteners. Focusing exclusively on agave nectar (a niche product) while ignoring tequila production distorts the scale of the issue.
The Honey Comparison
The argument also often includes a health claim – that honey is “healthier” than agave because agave is high in fructose.
From an ethical perspective, this is largely irrelevant. Neither honey nor agave is nutritionally essential. More importantly, ethical comparison requires examining both sides.
Honey production involves:
- Artificial insemination of queen bees
- Clipping of queen wings in some operations
- Replacing honey stores with sugar syrup
- Smoking hives to subdue bees
Even setting aside welfare concerns, harvesting honey involves taking a food source produced by bees for their own survival.
Commercial honey production increases populations of the domesticated species Apis mellifera, which is not endangered. Meanwhile, many wild bee species are threatened, and research suggests domestic honey bees can compete with and spread disease to wild bee populations.
A Broader Ethical Perspective
Like many crop-related issues, agave production can have ecological impacts. That does not make agave uniquely unethical, nor does it undermine veganism.
If someone is concerned about agave, they can simply avoid purchasing it, they can support sustainable agave production, and support bat conservation initiatives.
What does not logically follow is that consuming honey is therefore ethically preferable. Supporting bee populations can be done far more effectively by:
- Planting native flowering plants
- Reducing pesticide use
- Protecting wild habitats
- Supporting conservation efforts
Helping bees does not require exploiting them, no more so than being vegan requires buying agave nectar.
Suggested Reading
- NPR – “How Tequila Is Helping (and Hurting) Bats”
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/19/432774708/how-tequila-is-helping-and-hurting-bats - Bat Conservation International – Agave and Bat Conservation
https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bats-and-agave/ - IUCN Red List – Lesser Long-Nosed Bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae)
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/11697/22126116 - FAO – Pollinators and Agriculture
https://www.fao.org/pollination/en/
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