Californians bet farming agave for spirits holds key to weathering drought and groundwater limits

MURRIETA, Calif. – Leo Ortega began rising spiky blue agave vegetation at the arid hillsides round his Southern California house as a result of his spouse preferred the best way they regarded.

A decade later, his assets is now dotted with hundreds of what he and others hope is a promising new crop for the state following years of punishing drought and a push to cut back on groundwater pumping.

The 49-year-old mechanical engineer is considered one of a rising choice of Californians planting agave to be harvested and used to make spirits, similar to the best way tequila and mezcal are made in Mexico. The development is fueled via the will to to find hardy vegetation that don’t want a lot water and a booming urge for food for top class alcoholic drinks because the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s attracted marketers corresponding to Ortega, in addition to some California farmers. They’re searching for to shift to extra water-efficient vegetation and irrigation strategies to keep away from fallowing their fields with looming limits on how a lot groundwater they may be able to pump, in addition to extra excessive climate patterns expected with local weather exchange. Agave, in contrast to maximum different vegetation, prospers on nearly no water.

“When we were watering them, they didn’t really grow much, and the ones that weren’t watered were actually growing better,” Ortega stated, strolling previous rows of the succulents.

He is now making an investment in a distillery after his preliminary batches of spirits, created from Agave americana, offered for $160 a bottle.

Consumers began spending extra on high-quality spirits right through the pandemic shutdowns, which spurred a upward thrust in top class beverage merchandise, stated Erlinda A. Doherty, an agave spirits professional and guide.

Tequila and mezcal have been the second-fastest growing spirit class within the nation in 2022, in accordance to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Both are proprietary spirits underneath Mexican rules, which can be known in U.S. business agreements. Much like how champagne hails from a area of France, anything else known as tequila will have to include no less than 51% blue Weber agave and be distilled in Jalisco or a handful of different Mexican states. Mezcal will also be created from plenty of agave varieties however will have to be produced in sure Mexican states.

Agave growers and distillers in California — in addition to some in Texas and Arizona — are making a bet there may be an urge for food for extra agave-based spirits although they’re produced outdoor of Mexico and no longer known as tequila or mezcal.

“We seem to have this insatiable thirst for agave, so why not have a domestically grown supply?” Doherty stated. “I am kind of bullish on it.”

Alfonso Mojica Navarro, director of the Mexican Chamber of the Tequila Industry, stated tequila has a long historical past, international popularity for excellence and shut reference to Mexican tradition. While he didn’t remark particularly on California’s foray into agave spirits, he stated he believes Mexico can reply to the rising call for.

“The tequila industry is concerned that each time there are more players trying to take advantage of tequila’s success by producing agave spirits, liqueurs or other beverages that allude to the Mexican drink, its origins and characteristics despite not being the same,” he stated in a remark.

Agave is not grown on a big scale in California but, and it might take years for that to occur. But spirits, made via cooking the plant’s core to produce sugars which might be fermented, are proving in style, stated Ventura Spirits proprietor Henry Tarmy, who distilled his first batch 5 years in the past.

“We’ve sold everything we’ve made,” he stated.

Much like Mexico has, California is taking steps to give protection to its nascent business. The state legislature enacted a legislation remaining 12 months requiring “California agave spirits” be made totally with vegetation grown within the state and with out components.

A dozen growers and a handful of distillers additionally shaped the California Agave Council remaining 12 months, and the gang has tripled in measurement since then, stated Craig Reynolds, the founding director who planted agave within the Northern California neighborhood of Davis. He stated the ones making agave spirits have a deep appreciation for Mexican tequila.

“We have about 45 member growers,” he said. “All of them want more plants.”

Agave takes little water but presents other challenges. The plant typically takes at least seven years to grow and is tough to harvest, and a mature plant can weigh hundreds of pounds. Once cut, it has to be grown all over again.

Still, many see agave as a viable alternative as California — which supplies the bulk of the country’s produce — explores ways to cut back water use.

While record rain and snowfall over the winter mostly ended a three-year drought in California, more dry periods are likely in store. The state enacted a law nearly a decade ago to regulate the pumping of groundwater after excessive pumping led some residents’ wells to run dry and the land to sink. Scientists be expecting extreme weather patterns will develop into much more not unusual because the planet warms, inflicting extra drought.

Stuart Woolf, who grows tomatoes and almonds in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley, said he started thinking about agave after estimating he’ll only be able to farm about 60% of his land in 20 years due to water limitations. And that’s despite investing in solar energy and groundwater recharge projects to protect the farm that has been in his family for generations.

After trying out a test plot a few years ago, Woolf went on to plant some 200,000 agave on land he otherwise would have fallowed. Each acre of agave is taking only 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of water a year — a tenth of what row crops demand and even less than pistachio and almond trees, he said.

Woolf and his wife Lisa gave a $100,000 donation to the University of California, Davis, which formed a research fund to look at the succulent’s varieties and its potential as a low-water crop.

“I have been trying to figure out what is a crop that I can grow that is somewhat climate-resilient, drought-tolerant, so I can utilize our land,” Woolf stated. “The amount of water I am giving them is so low, I don’t think I am ever going to have a problem.”