Living Walls of Water - Opuntia Cactus As a Viable Crop and Firebreak

Commodities

• Fruits: other
• Additional Plants: other

Practices

• Crop Production: drought tolerance
• Natural Resources/Environment: other
• Sustainable Communities: urban/rural integration

Water-smart and wildfire-resilient crops are urgently needed to endure the expected climate future in many western agricultural areas. Growers are facing not only more erratic weather patterns that lead to very dry years, but also new regulations limiting the amount of both ground and surface water to which they have access. In addition, many agricultural lands are on the front lines of the increasing wildfires in the West, putting many growers’ livelihoods at risk. 

To counteract these threats, growers will benefit from economically viable crops that can be both drought resilient and provide “green firebreaks.” Drought-resilient crops are those that can maintain normal growth and development during periods of drought. Green firebreaks are strips of fire-resistant or low flammability vegetation planted strategically to stop or slow the spread of wildfire. 

Cactus pear provides an ideal candidate for firebreaks due to an extremely high (90%) water content, an upright stature making it suitable for hedgerows, high water-use efficiency and drought tolerance, extreme resistance to limb breakage due to wind, and superior biomass production with minimal water inputs. Cactus pear has potential to become a production crop in the US given its popularity in Latin America.

Our research aims will be to 

1. determine if cactus pear (Opuntia cochenillifera) can be grown as economically viable crops in Central Coast California without supplemental irrigation and 
2. determine if cactus pear (O. cochenillifera) will provide an effective green firebreak in wildfire prone areas. 

Information about the project will be disseminated to agricultural stakeholders by our educational and outreach plan that will convey the utility of cactus pear as a sustainable and resilient approach to limiting the spread of wildfires in fire-prone areas in CA and other western states through the development of an educational video, field day presentations, and fire demonstrations with our local fire marshal.

1.  Determine if cactus pear (Opuntia cochenillifera) can be grown as economically viable crops in Central Coast California without supplemental irrigation 
2. Determine if cactus pear (Opuntia cochenillifera) will provide an effective green firebreak in wildfire prone areas.
3. Develop an educational and outreach plan that conveys the utility of cactus pear as a sustainable and resilient approach to limiting the spread of wildfires in fire-prone areas in CA and other western states.