Gendarmeries are odd groups. Not quite police, not quite military—they combine features of both to handle problems neither the police or army are supposed to deal with. Now Mexico’s newly-created gendarmerie is preparing for its first mission.

To stop the cartels from messing with the country’s limes.

This month, the National Gendarmerie will begin operations protecting key crops—including limes in the state of Michoacan—from organized crime groups. The initial force is around 5,000 troops, according to the newspaper Vanguardia, with plans to eventually double that number.

The cartels are not just interested in drugs. Everything from human trafficking to cattle rustling and extorting lime farmers are opportunities for ill-gotten gains.

Michoacan—one of Mexico’s prime lime-growing regions—is also home to one of the longest-running conflicts in the country. The parties include the creepy Knights Templar cartel, government troops and self-organized citizen militias.

Until recently, the cartel effectively controlled the state’s important lime industry, and took to hijacking trucks as they rumbled north to the border while imposing a 10 percent tax on farmers.

Making matters worse, bad weather and resulting crop failures slashed lime production in other regions. The resulting spike in lime prices—as much as quadruple the price for a case of limes in the United States—led to some restaurants north of the border to temporarily stop serving the fruit.

However, the shortage appears to have eased as Mexican troops pushed back against the Knights Templar this year. Lime production in other parts of Mexico have bounced back, too. Now Mexico is sending in the gendarmeries to keep it that way.