Farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley are planting agave, the succulent Mexico distills into tequila, to cut groundwater use under a 2014 state pumping law, according to reporting published August 19, 2026 by KVPR and The Merced FOCUS.

Merced grower James Hunt, 45, put in 14 acres of agave on his family farm about a year ago, and Le Grand grower Omar Ramirez, 34, planted 100 acres nearby, both betting the plant can hold their ground as California tightens limits on groundwater pumping, the outlets reported.

Who is planting agave and how much

Hunt originally pictured a small craft distillery on his land, with rows of agave framed by the Sierra Nevada in the distance. As he researched the plant further, the idea grew beyond spirits. He told KVPR and The Merced FOCUS that agave could also supply agave syrup, agave inulin, a fiber supplement, biofuel and sustainable aviation fuel, and he now describes himself as an industry advocate who has taken to what he calls preaching the gospel of agave.

Ramirez, who used to grow almonds in Le Grand before profits fell, planted 100 acres of agave after concluding the crop was worth trying given the region's water restrictions. He already runs a tequila label called Luna Llena, made from agave grown and distilled in Mexico, separate from his California planting.

The largest operation in the region belongs to Fresno County grower Stuart Woolf, who started with a 2.5 acre test plot and has since expanded to roughly 340 acres and about 400,000 agave plants shipped in from Mexico, according to reporting by the Fresno Bee. Woolf has also donated to agave research at UC Davis.

What California's groundwater law requires

The pressure behind the shift is the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, a law Governor Jerry Brown signed in September 2014 during a historic drought to require local agencies to bring groundwater basins into balance after decades of overpumping that caused wells to run dry and land to sink. A Public Policy Institute of California report released in June 2026 found that as much as 900,000 acres of irrigated San Joaquin Valley farmland could be taken out of production as a result of SGMA, forcing growers to fallow land or shift to alternatives such as agave or winter grain instead of water intensive crops like almonds and pistachios.

Josh Viers, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Merced, told KVPR that the region has been pumping groundwater faster than it can be replenished, a condition known as overdraft that causes wells to fail and land to subside over time.

Why agave, and what it legally cannot be called

Agave's appeal is its tolerance for heat and its low water demand compared with tree crops, though it takes roughly six to eight years to mature before its first commercial harvest, according to UC Davis. Whatever California growers produce from it, however, cannot be sold as tequila or mezcal. Tequila is a legally protected term under Mexican law, requiring at least 51% blue Weber agave distilled within Jalisco or a handful of other designated Mexican states, and mezcal carries its own separate protections.

California created its own category instead. Assembly Bill 2303, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 28, 2022, and sponsored by the California Agave Council, set labeling rules requiring that any product sold as a California agave spirit be made entirely from agave grown in the state with no flavoring or coloring additives. The Council, founded by Craig Reynolds in 2022, now counts roughly 80 grower members across 32 counties and about a dozen distillers, with statewide plantings estimated near 1,200 acres.

The push extends into education as well. Madera Community College held its first field planting for an Agave Innovation Center in June 2026, putting in several thousand plants across five acres with support from UC Merced and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and college president Ángel Reyna has said the school plans to open a student run distillery.

What this means

The Central Valley's agave push is a water story before it is a spirits story: growers are chasing an alternative to fallowing land, not a shortcut into tequila. Nothing grown in California can carry that name under Mexican law, and the earliest commercial harvests from acreage planted this year are still roughly six to eight years away, leaving the economics of syrup, fiber and fuel side markets largely untested.