With groundwater limits increasing across California’s San Joaquin Valley, agave, a spiky desert plant, is drawing interest from farmers, researchers, and schools as a possible way to adapt.<\/p>\n
Known mostly for its role in making tequila and mezcal, agave is gaining attention as a crop that can withstand drought and might help keep farmland in production as the climate becomes hotter and drier, according to The Business Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here’s what to know<\/p>\n UC Merced doctoral student Calysta Ownby is researching whether agave can give Valley farmers a practical option as water supplies decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their soil work is meant to find out whether agave roots leave the ground better structured and fertile enough for future crops.<\/p>\n California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, is prompting growers to reconsider what they can plant as water becomes harder to secure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Srabani Das, who is affiliated with UC Merced and the University of California Cooperative Extension, noted that more farmers are being pushed toward a difficult choice: move to a crop like agave or leave the land idle.<\/p>\n “We must make agriculture regenerative and also very economically viable for the farmers,” Das explained.<\/p>\n More background<\/p>\n Agave stands out largely because it can tolerate intense heat and limited water better than many traditional crops.\u00a0<\/p>\n That has made it increasingly appealing in a region under growing pressure on its water resources.<\/p>\n Ownby said farmers cannot afford to gamble on a new crop without solid data.<\/p>\n “Testing it out and seeing how it goes probably doesn’t sound too great to the farmers,” she remarked. “They need answers.”<\/p>\n Her Ph.D. research is intended to provide them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ownby plans to measure how much water agave needs to be viable, whether it can handle saltier soils better than other crops, and how much carbon dioxide it absorbs.<\/p>\n What’s being done?<\/p>\n Schools around the Valley are also beginning to build agave-related programs.<\/p>\n At Madera Community College, President \u00c1ngel Reyna said the school has leased a winery with plans to use it as a temporary agave distillery. The longer-term goal is a student-run hotel, bar, restaurant, and distillery.<\/p>\n “This would be a temporary site until we build our own hotel, bar, restaurant, and distillery that our students run and operate, so they can get that hands-on experience,” Reyna stated.<\/p>\n The college is also offering four-week agave cultivation classes for the community, with subsidies available for farmers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Officials want to eventually turn those efforts into credited coursework and degree programs focused on cultivation, distilling, and agave business development.<\/p>\n In Merced County, the Office of Education is partnering with farmer James Hunt to bring K-12 students into agave farming through outdoor education.<\/p>\n “We’re not just testing things because it’s an interesting question. It’s an interesting question because it needs an answer,” Ownby commented.<\/p>\n Where can I learn more?<\/p>\n While Valley growers consider whether agave pencils out under SGMA, they’re also exploring other ways to adapt to water limits, energy costs, and changing land use.\u00a0<\/p>\n These articles examine how producers are trying to stay afloat by using less irrigation, generating solar revenue, and finding new purposes for farmland.<\/p>\n \u2022 At CES 2025, Full Nature Farms unveiled breakthrough irrigation tech<\/a> aimed at cutting farm water use.<\/p>\n \u2022 In California, farmers are eyeing solar as a revenue source<\/a> as crop economics tighten.<\/p>\n \u2022 On a peach orchard, growers are testing an agrivoltaic system<\/a> that promotes crops while generating power.<\/p>\n \u2022 Farmers have found that solar panels on cropland<\/a> can support plant growth while producing electricity.<\/p>\n \u2022 U.S. researchers say a small share of cropland<\/a> could supply significant new energy.<\/p>\n They all link back to the same challenge in the San Joaquin Valley: keeping farms productive with less water and tighter margins, which is the backdrop for the region’s growing interest in agave.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With groundwater limits increasing across California’s San Joaquin Valley, agave, a spiky desert plant, is drawing interest from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,23990,179266,179267,19004,53198,7346,475],"class_list":["post-453803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-das","tag-ownby","tag-reyna","tag-sgma","tag-the-business-journal","tag-uc-merced","tag-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}