Farming Cactus Pear

Adapting to ongoing climate and water constraints in the Lower Colorado Basin.

  • As a low input perennial crop that can withstand extreme high temperatures and severe drought conditions, Opuntia presents a viable alternative to water intensive traditional crops grown in arid zones, facing worsening climate conditions and decreasing water availability. It’s wide range of uses include:

    • Livestock feed

    • Human consumables

    • Renewable biofuels

    • Multi-use biomass feedstock

Sustaining Arid Agriculture

  • Opuntia has 16-28% the crop water demands of traditional crops. (Neupane et al., 2021) Best watered using drip irrigation tape evenly distributing water and fertilizer to its root systems, it thereby loses significantly less water to evaporation in high heat environments.

    Opuntia is uniquely capable of storing large amounts of water even among other succulent plant species. By means of its crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic process, it is able to convert water and CO2 to dry matter more efficiently than C3 and C4 photosynthetic plants. CAM plants (such as agave and yucca) are able to retain their water during the day, by only opening its stomata at night when temperatures are lower and transpiration less severe, a process known as autotrophic respiration.

Saving Water

  • High density plantings of Opuntia can sequester as much as 30-70 tons of CO2 per hectare per year in above and below-ground biomass.

    Opuntia stores significant amounts of carbon underground known as Soil Organic Carbon (root mass), but also as Soil Inorganic Carbon, in the form of calcium carbonate (a.k.a. limestone), a unique process possessed by the Opuntia genus.

    Opuntia’s high carbon sequestration and productive capability presents intriguing opportunities for biochar creation and carbon curing using post production waste.

    Reduced methane emissions have also been associated with the inclusion of Opuntia into cattle and other ruminant diets. (Silva et al., 2025)

Storing Carbon

The Work That We Do

Putting improved varieties into production and research into action. 

❋  Working with diverse stakeholders  to further Opuntia as a water efficient alternative to traditional crops in arid zones.
❋  Producing data to support efficiency claims and yield expectations.
❋  We are offering specialized varieties suited  to location specific climate and soil conditions, and intended use cases.
❋  Support research and education institutions, as well as performing outreach to educate on Opuntia agriculture.

Employing large scale micro-propagation and traditional cladode propagation, suppling farmers and landowners with top performing biomass, livestock feed, and fruit producing varieties.

Facilitate ongoing University of Nevada Reno and Department of Energy funded research into Opuntia cacti for bioenergy production under arid conditions.

The Carbon Cactus Project is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Our Mission: advance a domestic industry of cactus pear agriculture in arid zones of the US.

Through our propagation efforts and planting partnerships, we are providing independent farmers, CSAs and private landowners with ready to plant pads, rooted cacti, and assistance in implementing drip irrigation systems.

If you would like to grow Opuntia or wish to discuss potential collaboration

Contact Us

Ongoing Projects

GreenGale Farms

GreenGale Farms
Las Vegas, NV

  • Located at GreenGale Farms in North Las Vegas, is our pilot Opuntia fruit orchard growing a variety of Opuntia ficus-indica bearing red fruit with high flesh to seed ratio and an excellent flavor. GreenGale Farms will not only grow fruit but pads as a sustainable livestock feed supplement for their onsite rescued bovines. This site additionally serves as a propagation resource for cut pads then transferred to pots.

    Despite the high salinity and low nutrient soils, these plants are growing at a significant rate, organically without the use of pesticides. Current drip irrigation regiment provides approximately 74 gallons per plant per year.

Planted June, 2026

Species: Opuntia ficus-indica

0.5 acres, 320 plants, 8’x8’ spacing

USDA Zone 9a, 9b

Desert Cactus Fuels
 Sandy Valley, NV

  • Desert Cactus Fuels, led by Claus Schmidt is an innovative organization working with farmers to grow spineless cactus for livestock feed, renewable fuels, water offsets and carbon offsets. We are supporting his effort by supplying ready to plant cacti.

    Seeing the immense potential and water saving benefits of Opuntia agriculture in Southern Nevada, Desert Cactus Fuels has planted on land previously cultivated for Alfalfa in Southern Nevada’s Sandy Valley. After their successful April planting of a cold tolerant Opuntia variety, the Carbon Cactus Project has donated 1,680 pads of Opuntia ficus-indica to enable a planting density increase at 0.5 meter spacing per plant, and to test this high biomass producing variety under local conditions. These high density rows will further act to increase the water efficiency of modified pivot irrigation systems being tested at the site. Further expansion is underway and the Carbon Cactus Project will continue to provide wholesale pads for scaled growth.

Initial Planting: April, 2026, Secondary High Density: October, 2026

Species: Opuntia ficus-indica

1 hectare

USDA Zone 8a, 8b

Carbon Cactus Project - Propagation, Research,
& Education Station
Boulder City, NV

  • Pending lease approval by Boulder City NV, this farm will serve as a propagation, research and education station, showcasing a variety of Opuntia species, planting densities, and best management practices.

    Acres 1 and 2 will be primarily dedicated to our chosen Opuntia ficus-indica accession well suited to Mojave Desert conditions, and an especially successful producer of biomass and high quality fruit. Low density fruit orchard to super high density biomass production will be performed here, while tracking growth and productivity to further demonstrate the efficacy of Opuntia as a new desert cash crop.

    Acres 3 and 4 will host a field trial for the UNR College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources. This 5 year national project located in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida is funded through a research grant of $9 million by the Department of Energy to identify cactus for biofuel production, human food and food products, livestock fodder, and terrestrial carbon sequestration efforts on drylands.
    Project website is https://naes.unr.edu/opuntia-systems-biology/objectives.aspx, described in more detail at https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2026/doe-cactus-pear-grant

4 acres, ~ 3000 plants,

Species: 240 accessions of spineless Opuntia

Intended Planting: March, 2027

USDA Zone 9a, 9b