California’s fertile farmland — much of it in the San Joaquin Valley — feeds the nation. But all that farming takes a lot of water, which continues to dwindle as the state faces the harsh realities of climate change. With less water to go around and hotter conditions threatening many legacy crops, farmers are fallowing more acres and losing hundreds of millions in revenue. In a study from UC Merced, researchers estimated the state lost 752,000 acres of irrigated farmland in 2022. Switching to less-thirsty crops could cut agricultural water consumption in the state by as much as 93%, researchers with UC Santa Barbara and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported earlier this year. Now some farmers are betting big on what they believe could be part of the solution: agave.