Honestly, this thing is out of control,” said one grower. “You just keep wondering if it is going to get any taller.” ...

Farmers in California are trying to plant crops that don't require a lot of water. Some are turning to growing agave as a response to a warming state. Search Query Show Search.

He was not the first to plant agave, but he has planted the most so far — roughly 400,000 plants on 340 acres. Advertisement “We’re in a highly productive area,” Woolf told me last week.

Making way for the industry is a 2022 state law that requires alcohol sold here under the label of “California agave spirits” to be made completely with California-grown plants — and no ...

Climate change and drought has driven California farmers to seek more resilient crops — like agave. And as the crop takes off, distillers have started making their own California agave spirits.

When Craig Reynolds of Sacramento planted a small plot of agave in Mexico to raise funds for a nonprofit in 2006, he had no idea it would spark a revolution in the California spirits scene.

Today, Woolf has about 400,000 plants that he shipped in from Mexico — tequila’s Agave Tequilana and mezcal’s Agave Espadin — on about 340 acres, some of them visible from Interstate 5 on ...

Until a decade ago, California agave plants were more likely to be found in a plush Santa Barbara garden than in a fertile San Joaquin field. But in the last few years, farmers have begun ...

Farmers in California are trying to plant crops that don't require a lot of water. Some are turning to growing agave as a response to a warming state.

Craig Reynolds, founder of the California Agave Council, compares the plant with almonds: While almonds need about 48 inches of water per acre per year, agaves need only 3 inches.