Mexico used to be a leading vanilla supplier, but the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and discovery of oil near where the crops grew put a halt to much of the industry. Then synthetic vanilla and Madagascar’s hefty vanilla crop created a price drop, prompting Mexican farmers to raise cattle or citrus and bananas instead. But prices have recently gone up after the cyclones of 2000 and political problems in Madagascar, so Mexico is aiming to ramp up production again, with the help of their already established orange trees which, fortuitously, provide excellent support for vanilla plants. They also hope to retain some of the workers who prefer to go to the U.S. for jobs. Caring for and harvesting the crop is labor intensive. Some clever marketing to the gourmet food crowd would help them gain an edge over Madagascar, Indonesia, and, also ramping up, Uganda.