Bountyhunterfromhell
101455
1693
48
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saudi-company-fondomonte-arizona-ground-water-crop-alfalfa/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17
Apr 22, 2023 5:09 PM
Bountyhunterfromhell
101455
1693
48
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saudi-company-fondomonte-arizona-ground-water-crop-alfalfa/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17
Decitron
Capitalism: Conservative fascists love it. Liberal shits protect it. The poor and working class die for it.
TheTwoHoles
The real title should be "Arizona is shit at making lease agreements". They just leased the land and water rights for $25 an acre to a company, and that company grows alfalfa. It's not that hard to be accurate when you have a source...
aramus
Raise the price.
infin3
Living in AZ this is the most appropriate use of water I've ever seen. Surprised we aren't using Gatorade to solve our drought issues.
Diablero666
xenjamin
This is what we will go to war over..
pm1001
Arizona?!
TeeweeAndSmashboy
Misguided shortsightedness.
mouseyroxy1
Arizona is one of the last places that should be selling their water to anyone let alone to a country across the world
IncrediRis
whats the problem here? if they run out of water they can just drink their money. oh, wait…
dutch1970
At least write a correct sentence about how we're being screwed...
ClarkKentfield
Another fun fact, Farmers in California do not grow food that we need, they ask "How much water can I get this year" then grow Hay, Alfalfa and more as that uses a TON of water, requires not that much work to do and makes a bigger profit
Tarmaccian
Another fun fact: The farming industry has a lobbyist group actively and openly promoting human trafficking, and opposing rules that would prevent selling products of slave labor.
GeneralPrower
Misleading article, but the principle is still the same - I look forward to the day when that underground aquifer has been completely drained and the entire city of Phoenix implodes into one giant sinkhole.
Mack1986
To Saudi owned firms in Arizona. For fucks sake do you have a reading problem?
shyasen
They have a greed and entitlement problem while the AZ State Land Department which refuses to disclose how much water is being pumped and Republicans who don't want to talk about it have a Big Oil cock sucking and bootlicking problem.
TI99Kitty
Still Saudi Arabia getting obscenely huge amounts of water far cheaper than Arizona residents and local farms have to pay.
RoscoeDeBoscoe
They can use an unlimited amount of water, that's just what they happen to be using, so it's way worse
ThatAintRightItsAllLeft
Why red states don't make money 101
DrewThe3DPrinterGuy
When you have been in a 20 year drought, selling your water supply to grow unnecessary crops seems, stupid at best and evil at worst.
AzraelWalker
WONT SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE COMPANY PROFITS?!
AMercer
Whoever put together this deal probably ended up with a nice bribe.
shakefu
Tell that to California who sold off water rights to Nestle under the R legislature in the 90s. Fuckers pull nearly 60M gallons a year when they’re supposed to take 3M. Slavers and crooks they should be drug out in the street.
RollToSaveAgainst
Kinda like the Irish Potato Famine, people were starving to death but the rich decided to take even more food from them
Radix865
Or the WWII British and the famine in Bengal. The dead were piling up on the streets and the viceroy just went "nope, they're just hoarding food."
backrideup9
And not even at any kind of profit. That's 10k gallons for $0.25. Literally I wish I had those rates at my house.
JohnWickdidnothingwrong
It's graft. Every time you have administrative types doing counter-intuitive shit with money, it's graft. The Kingdom is well-known for greasing palms and stuffing pockets.
shyasen
This began in 2014 under Republican Gov. Jan Brewer & continued under Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. The Saudi company Fondomonte, a subsidiary of Riyadh-based Almarai, has been pumping unlimited amounts of groundwater from the desert west of Phoenix for only $25 per acre annually. Nearby farmers pay $150 per acre annually. Other companies are taking advantage of this on precious water resources in rural Arizona including alfalfa farms affiliated with the UAE & plenty of domestic companies.
gypsyspot
do you mean acre feet when you say acre?
shyasen
Yes, the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land 1 foot deep.
TheFactivist
Not sure if it has changed since I lived there but AZ had SO MANY golf courses at one point.
IamNoneOfTheThingsISayIam
Hasn’t changed. The golf courses use SO MUCH of the water supply, but nothing will change until the water is gone for good.
Strangedays2026
It's really just evil. The people selling the water will never be directly impacted by the drought, and if they are they'll just pull up stakes and leave the peasants to deal.
PoopholeAintALoophole
I just try to imagine the enormous amount of under-the-table greasing that went on to get this done. Some people got really rich really fast.
FuryFuryMon
You mean beg for tax bail outs so they can "afford" to live
Strangedays2026
Nah I mean run they already beg for bailouts despite never actually needing them
HeyOP
Haha Saudis going to a desert state to grow a water intensive crop because it's illegal to grow in Saudi because water. Classic humanity.
GuitarBobMonterey
They got a deal, plus they have insane oil biz loot.
Heavenissize17socks
With this deal, they don't need oil biz loot. 0.000025/gallon.
sinkingfeeling
I'm not normally a fan of federal interference, but I'm cool with making an exception here
idiotsonfire
Burn their farms. Drive them out. They attacked us, so no, they can't make their profit with our resources.
AstroExplained
The biggest sense of irony is that in the 40s, AZ farmers helped teach Saudi farmers to jump start the Saudi dairy industry (where much of that alfalfa goes), and when they bled their own water supplies dry they went back to AZ...
TheWarHymn
Alfafa isn't more water intensive than most other crops. I have no idea where this claim came from but it's simply not true.
HeyOP
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/12/colorado-drought-water-alfalfa-farmers-conservation
TheWarHymn
From academic/industry sources I looked up a while ago, I know alfalfa isn't much more water intensive than say wheat FOR the amount of product yielded. This article is only looking at total water consumed and not accounting for product yielded. As a fast growing forage crop, alfalfa is usually harvested multiple (up to 6) times a year. What this means that while its consuming 5 ft/acre of water per year, its more like 1 ft/acre per harvest. An acre of alfalfa can produce up to 13 tonnes of hay/
TheWarHymn
per year, with average yields around like 4-8 tonnes depending on climate and nutrient/water input. Is it a good idea to be growing any forage crop meant for meat feed in a drought-stricken area? Probably not. But in this case blame the farmer, not the crop.
HeyOP
On the other hand: https://extension.usu.edu/crops/research/ten-reasons-why-alfalfa-is-highly-suitable-for-the-west
HeyOP
Can't say *where* the claim came from, but it was noted as established in a 1991 study out of UC Davis by R.S. Loomisl & J. Wallinga
HeyOP
Er, my phrasing there might be confusing. It was noted as *already established in that study, not that it's its origin.
MidoryMoon
Very misleading. These are foreign-owned farms which are growing crops in the US and then transporting them, not transporting water. Saudi Arabia only owns a small percentage of the foreign-owned farms in Arizona (they're mostly owned by *Canada*), and this is just being used to stir nationalism against foreigners.
NationalistCanadianMooseWarrior
Lol what the fuck why are *we* doing that? We have the space and the water. We should be sending our water down there if anything.
KnifeKnut
Foreign owned farms that grow water intensive crops in a desert. Same as Transporting water with extra steps. Go read the science fiction classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress if you don't believe me.
MapleSyrupMafia
And you need less water to grow stuff in a desert, right? /s
shyasen
It's not misleading. Transporting, using, what's the difference & for only $25 an acre per year while the rest of us who live, work & grow our crops here pay $150 per acre? We don't have an issue with foreign companies, we have an issue with the sweetheart deal they were given by the AZ State Land Department which refuses to disclose how much water is being pumped & Republicans who don't want to talk about it &, SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER, are the ones stirring nationalism against foreigners.
Shinikitty
My key take away was more that the Arizona Government miss using water by selling it overseas. Good to know about it being used for crops here, but still bad if it's wasting water.
RoscoeDeBoscoe
They grow the crops here and ship the crops back to their home country
AbhainnFuil
Nah, most folk here know it’s for farms growing crops to export to Saudi because it’s illegal to grow the crop in Saudi. Which is in many ways worse, they are taking a lend.
ThailandExpress
how do they grow crops without water?
Einstein9073
Hmm, so the US potable water isn't being used to grow desert crops for export? The farms aren't owned by a desert country? "Saudi are bad because they are brown" is racism. "Saudi are bad because they steal our water" sounds like facts
TheJuiceLoosener
Ok, so, the whole system of agriculture in the Southwest is fucked and should be re-vamped. I agree with you.
pr3viso
Ahhh, 70% of a cow is what? And, this is the funniest part, drawing unlimited water from the aquifer upstate is lowering the water table downstream, where people have to abandon their own houses. Neat, ain't it?
drosophilamelanogaster
I mean, some of the water is in the crops, so it's really just a bunch of fancy packaging plants for water.
Jamesstin
Taking a real fuckin hard look at resource scarcity of the future & present day complicity is not in any way nationalism & idk what shit 1/
Jamesstin
Youve been through to be so adamantly against taking advantage of the strategic North America has been blessed with but youll change your 2/
Jamesstin
When you start getting hungry. 3/3
TheTwoHoles
I totally agree. Arizona leased the land to a company and gave them water rights. Now, the company is being called out for growing water intensive crops, and Arizona is being called out for leasing all this land and water for $25 an acre; which they should be. The state of Arizona is at fault, and the weird focus on the Saudis is just some strange finger-pointing bigotry.
AstroExplained
Worth noting the focus on the Saudis is also for historical reasons. The alfalfa grown in AZ goes back to SA for the dairy industry, which was heavily influenced following US government sending AZ farmers to SA and SA visits to AZ for the AZ farmers to share knowledge. Both AZ and CA have been hugely reckless their water supply, draining the lakes dry for corporate profits, which the locals never see the benefit of
shyasen
Really? They SHOULD lease at $25/acre for unlimited amounts & AZ State Land Department refuses to say how much they are pumping while AZ farmers pay $150/acre & if I pump 1 gallon more than I'm suppose to I pay fines? The misleading part isn't the foreign company, but the deal they were given under 2 Repub governor's while the same party pushes nationalism against foreigners while licking OPEC & Saudi boots.
TheTwoHoles
Nah I meant they should be getting called out. It's bullshit that they are leasing for so cheap and giving water rights knowing what they are doing. I'm just saying that the whole angle of blaming a country for a screw up by the Arizona government is a bit shit.
WeCanDoBetter9
For me, the SA angle is not about bigotry but pointing out some serious absurdity in the lease agreement. It’s illegal to grow there due to the water needs, but they found a way to get it done here in a water vulnerable place. The AZ officials that agreed to this are the ones I take issue with, not so much SA.
shyasen
Got it, I misunderstood.
wandermanspacebot
Why is Canada in quotation marks?
ahorseelbowdeepinme
Those aren't quotation marks. They're tiny maple leaves.
MidoryMoon
Well, asterisks. Probably because I'm used to Discord and that would italicize the comment, there.
wandermanspacebot
Ah, ok.
Meltemi
Two asterisks, impressive. Even Nathan Hale only had one asterisk for his country.
ahorseelbowdeepinme
History puns: somehow both old yet never get old
121E1V
You really believe there is a Canada? Have you ever seen Canada with your own eyes?
ThrowAwayAcct0000
I live in Canada so yes
BeerFueledAdventurer
Two geographies were in the closet making Canadas and I saw one of the Canadas and the Canada looked at me!
MapleSyrupMafia
We are very real. Now stop shit talking Canada before we send our special task force of geese with lasers.
rattytom
Hell, I live here and don’t believe in it.
SquidBaitBadgerDroid
If you die in Canada you die in real life
ahorseelbowdeepinme
No one dies in Canada, they have Healthcare
SquidBaitBadgerDroid
Fun fact, no healthcare plan includes immortality