About Agave

There are more than 300 Agave spp. with the majority native to Central and South America and only a few have been commercialised and cultivated since the 1500s. Agave spp are CAM plants – they use Crassulacean Acid Metabolism to photosynthesise with low moisture availability in arid and semi-arid environments. Because they are such efficient users of water, Agaves can be grown as a rain-fed crop in dry environments.

AUSAGAVE has identified several varieties as valuable low-input rain-fed crops in certain summer rainfall dominant areas of Queensland, northern NSW and northern parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Additional varieties have been selected for the cooler regions of southern Australia.

Location and variety selections have been based on the analysis of climate and soil type as well as current and potential infrastructure. These potential production areas were modelled with input from CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology and James Cook University. In some locations selected by AUSAGAVE for planting demonstration sites, processing infrastructure is already present with the capacity for additional feedstock.