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

Leo Ortega started growing spiky blue agave plants on the arid hillsides around his Southern California home because his wife liked the way they looked. A decade later, his property is now dotted with thousands of what he and others hope is a promising new crop for the state following years of punishing drought in California, Arizona and other Western states, and a push to scale back on groundwate[...]