Seriously? Saudi Arabia is growing alfalfa in Arizona because it’s used up its own tiny supply of water? “Hey it’s kind of dry here so let’s use Arizona instead. Sure it’s on the other side of the planet and it too is a desert but what could go wrong?”
Arizona is leasing farmland to a Saudi water company, straining aquifers, and threatening future water supply in Phoenix. Fondomonte, a Saudi company, exports the alfalfa to feed its cows in the Middle East. The country has practically exhausted its own underground aquifers there. In Arizona, Fondomonte can pump as much water as it wants at no cost.
And when it’s all gone Arizona will…uh…erm…move to Nevada. Yeah, that’s it.
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11 responses to “The planning department”
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat who the fuck gave away such a deal?? When the aquifer is dry and Arizonans where it went, I wonder if they will be as amazed as I am that it wasn’t even theft – that it was a gift.
It’s just bonkers.
That’s really weird because there are a lot of places where alfalfa grows. Why suburban Phoenix?
To feed cattle. Here again we see the impact of animal farming. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/water-footprint-food-sustainability
Why should anyone be surprised that a city in the desert that considers it appropriate to have one of the most enormous fountains in the world shooting water into the desert air would find it appropriate to give water to another desert area, one rich in oil? And, of course, no one told the Saudis “hey, using up your water might be at least slightly more serious a problem than a woman showing her hair or driving a car”.
when Arizonans wonder* where it went…
Answering Mike Haubrich #3:
Because Saudi cattle prefer the terroir of desert grown alfalfa.
ALFALFA?! That plant absolutely *gobbles* water. They might as well be growing cotton.
Or rice paddies.
Irony is positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably dead.
Saudi Arabia at least has the *possibility* of desalinating sea water from the Red Sea or Persian Gulf, Arizona doesn’t even have a coastline.