Arizona’s Water is Growing Alfalfa to Ship to Saudi Arabia

Arizona is Almost Giving its Water Away During Drought Conditions

The Arizona Republican Legislators are Giving Your Water Resources Away

“So when Arizonans are forced to cut back and a foreign company gets to pump however much water they want for cows in Saudi Arabia, it gets me fired up.” Kris Mayes ¹

“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. Groundwater is unregulated in most rural areas of the state. Fondomonte pays only $25 per acre annually. The State Land Department says the market rate is $50 dollars per acre and it provides a 50% discount because it doesn’t pay for improvements. But the $25 per acre price is about one-sixth of the market price for unimproved farmland with flood irrigation today, according to Charlie Havranek, a Realtor at Southwest Land Associates.” ²

“Four hours east of Los Angeles, in a drought-stricken area of a drought-afflicted state, is a small town called Blythe where alfalfa is king. More than half of the town’s 94,000 acres are bushy blue-green fields growing the crop. Massive industrial storehouses line the southern end of town, packed with thousands upon thousands of stacks of alfalfa bales ready to be fed to dairy cows – but not cows in California’s Central Valley or Montana’s rangelands. Instead, the alfalfa will be fed to cows in Saudi Arabia.” ³

“How much does unlimited pumping of groundwater in the Butler Valley, a desert west of Phoenix, Ariz, cost? Nothing, at least for Saudi corporation, Fondomonte, who has been growing alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia over the last seven years.” ⁴

1. Kris Mayes for Arizona, August 20, 2022 – Arizona Corruption Is Out Of Control (PDF)
2. Arizona PBS, June 23, 2022 – Saudi water deal threatening water supply in Phoenix
3. The Guardian, Lauren Markham, March 25, 2019 – Who keeps buying California’s scarce water? Saudi Arabia
4. Drovers, Paige Carlson, August 11, 2022 – Unlimited Groundwater In the Desert Pads Pockets of Saudi Corporation