[ckonrad]

#2427

Hey Everyone,

The California agave industry is at a thrilling turning point, and we have a unique opportunity to shape its future from the ground up. The Production Research Committee is officially kicking off a new 9-month cycle (July 2026 – March 2027), and we are looking for passionate members to join the team.

Our core mission? Leverage data, science, and AI to deeply understand agave growing behaviors regionally, elevate crop quality, and drive massive innovation across the state.

What We’re Tackling This Cycle (A Sneak Peek)
We’ve designed an ambitious, high-impact roadmap for the next 9 months. Without giving away all our secrets, here is a teaser of the major initiatives we’ll be driving:

Bridging Science & the Field: Turning complex academic research into quick, actionable grower guides (think 1-page cheat sheets on core pillars like irrigation and weed management) while collaborating with CA colleges to shape future agave research.

The Blueprint for Agave Data: Building a master database and testing a visual “Production Optimizer” proof-of-concept to help farmers model their yield and sugar percentages based on local data.

Bringing AI to the Farm: Helping members deploy simple data-collection tools on their farms and creating guides on how to use free AI tools to analyze your own soil tests and farm logs.

Setting the Quality Standard: Auditing regional distillers and processors to establish standardized grading and quality guidelines so growers can maximize their commercial market value.

The Commitment
We know everyone is incredibly busy running their own operations, so we have structured this committee to be lean, highly organized, and respectful of your time.

Time Investment: An average of just 3 hours per month (27 hours total over the 9-month cycle).

Meetings: One 45-minute monthly meeting held on the last Friday of every month at 11:00 AM PST.

You’ll be working alongside Christopher Konrad (Chair), Jim Beecher, Stuart Woolf, and Gian Nelson. We have a few open seats left for members who want to roll up their sleeves and help lead these specific projects.

If you want to be at the forefront of California agave innovation and help guide our community’s agricultural practices, we want you on board.

Interested? Drop a comment below or send a direct message to me to learn more about grabbing a seat at the table!

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