Agave Takes Root in Central Valley Ag School Programs

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, September 10, 2026

• In the San Joaquin Valley, Agriculture is big. So it’s no surprise ag programs are offered at many local colleges and universities. But now a new plant is taking root in ag classrooms: agave. At a test plot in Merced County, agave is becoming the primary subject of coursework.
• A new lawsuit filed in Kern County details sexual abuse allegations by an unnamed plaintiff against the late civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. It accuses nonprofits tied to Chavez of negligence.
• The US Department of Justice is alleging that UC Berkeley law school’s admissions policy discriminates against white and Asian applicants.

It’s a torrid summer morning on a Merced County agave farm, and UC Merced PhD student Calysta Ownby is boring into the dirt with a drill. She’s collecting a core of dry and hard-packed soil in between the rows of agave. Ownby, her professor, and a research specialist have spent hours collecting these so-called “bulk density” samples. It’s back-breaking work, thrusting a metal cylinder tool into the ground and clawing at the soil.

The team is trying to figure out if agave’s roots can loosen up the soil and keep it fertile for crops in the future.

“I think it’s one of the big issues that society needs an answer to. There isn’t one simple answer,” she said.

Agave is a large spiky succulent that can come in blue, green and yellow depending on the variety. For centuries, Mexico has distilled its core to make tequila and mezcal, but more recently, agave became more popular on California farms. That’s because it’s known to be drought and heat resistant.

Valley schools like UC Merced are trying to answer farmers’ and policymakers’ questions around it. Faculty member Srabani Das, who leads the lab Ownby works in, is part of that.

“We must make agriculture regenerative and also very economically viable for the farmers,” she said.

She’s with both UC Merced and the University of California’s cooperative extension. Farmers are dealing with increasing water restrictions from a state water law, Das says, so many are either going to try a new crop like agave, or not use their land at all.

Agave could also help the community make money, and UC Merced is not the only college focusing on agave.

Angel Reyna is the president at Madera Community College.

“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,” he said as he stands in a leased-out winery that he wants to turn into an agave distillery.

He says the college wants to build careers out of agave. The college provides four-week community courses all about growing this crop, with a plan to offer credited courses and degrees in the future.

“We get state resources that are funded by the public, and so ultimately it’s their money for us to invest and educate the future workforce, but also to be an economic driver,” Reyna said.

There’s also a plan to help K-12 students learn about agave farming.

Camille Fagundes is at the Merced County Office of Education.

“We are at the heart of of the country’s produce source, so it’s very important for our students to learn about where all that food is coming from,” Fagundes said.

Calysta Ownby sees herself someday working at an agency like the US Department of Agriculture.

“Everyone that I’ve interacted with in those jobs has always been doing their best for their community, and that’s what I want is to give back to the community somehow.”

She’ll be taking these soil samples to the lab and measuring their moisture. She thinks the results might help a Valley farmer or a government leader.

“We’re not just testing things because it’s an interesting question. It’s an interesting question because it needs an answer.”

An answer that could unlock a new future.

The woman in the lawsuit is only referred to as Jane Doe, and she filed a total of six claims related to alleged abuse she suffered in the 1970s. She is requesting a jury trial.

She was a resident of La Paz, the compound in the Tehachapi mountains where Chavez and the UFW ran operations.

The lawsuit filed Sept 1 in Kern County Superior Court against the Cesar Chavez Foundation and the UFW Foundation, alleges leadership at the foundations “allowed the labor union and civil rights icon to freely target women for sexual abuse,” according to a press release.

In 1973, the plaintiff says Chavez forced alcohol on her and danced with her. She hid in a bathroom, but says Chavez then pulled her onto a bed and raped her.

The plaintiff accuses the Chavez family and nonprofits tied to Chavez of negligence. The lawsuit alleges the flagship farmworker union and the Cesar Chavez Foundation “made concerted efforts to hide evidence relating to sexual harassment and sexual assaults of girls and women by UFW members and leaders, including Cesar Chavez, in an effort to incentivize survivors to remain silent or prevent information relating to such wrongdoing from becoming public.”

This is the first known lawsuit stemming from an explosive New York Times story this spring that Chavez sexually abused girls and women during his rise as a union leader.

A letter from the DOJ says that it found evidence of discrimination during a compliance review of the school’s admissions process with the federal Department of Education.

The departments’ investigative findings are the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration targeting the state’s public university system — and other top universities nationwide — with threats to cut funding over antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

In 2023 the US supreme court ruled that schools cannot consider race in admissions and hiring decisions.

The DOJ is requesting that Berkeley’s law school enter a “voluntary resolution agreement” to ensure that its admissions process is brought into legal compliance. The university says it complies with state and federal law and does not give admissions preference based on race.