Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays plans to end a land deal with the Saudi Farm Company in La Paz County.
La Paz County, Arizona — Bill Farr doesn’t have to worry about when his well will run low.
“I am there now,” he said, leaning against a truck parked near the well. It’s a hunk of pipes and valves behind a chain link fence, all connected to a large pipe that disappears into the ground.
Farr is 74 years old and looks like he’s spent his life in the Arizona desert.
He has owned the Salome Water Company for 50 years. It was easier back then, he says.
The well was dug down to 700 feet. The water was once about 300 feet below. The water level is currently 600 feet. After many years of this, his pump never touched the water. So he hasn’t gotten any new customers. He stops at about 100. Not that the city of Salome is much larger than that.
“We have to take care of people who have water meters and are established,” he said.
There is a water tower about 100 yards from the well. Far sees it and finds it almost full. But he says some days he can’t provide enough water for everyone who needs it.
There are two reasons for that, says Farr. There is his 22-year mega-drought that Arizona is dealing with. And his neighbor is a huge commercial farm owned by a Saudi corporation that uses all the groundwater they need.
The largest is owned by a company called Fondomonte. He is a subsidiary of Almarai, one of the Middle East’s largest dairy suppliers.
Fondomonte and Almarai grow, chop, pack, and truck the alfalfa to ports in Arizona. They are then shipped back to Saudi Arabia to feed Almalai’s dairy cows.
Almarai does this on farms in various locations around the world. Money is used to bring food to cows from the other side of the world. The company does this for very specific reasons. Growing alfalfa is illegal in Saudi Arabia.
Now the Arizona Attorney General wants Fondmonte to pay for it.
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Alfalfa is a crop that requires a lot of water. Experts say it doesn’t need a lot of water to grow in the first place. That’s because alfalfa never stops growing. Farmers who grow it can mow the field many times a year and it will grow again. Most farms grow alfalfa fields at different times to ensure a consistent harvest.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia finalized a ban barring farmers in the kingdom from growing alfalfa. Agriculture used more water than domestic customers, and water-intensive crops were straining Saudi Arabia’s water supply.
Currently, Saudi Arabia relies on farms abroad for livestock feed such as alfalfa and hay.
And Fondmonte found the best place in Arizona to grow alfalfa: La Paz County.
We leased just under 10,000 acres from the Arizona Land Department near the town of Vicksburg.
However, the lease fee is half the market price, only $25 per acre. The entire farm was leased for less than $100,000 a year.
Even better, the state has allowed the Fondmonte Company to use all groundwater it can pump for free.
But experts say Fondmonte just did the same. Find the best business scenario.
“A lot of the conversation about the Saudi farm trade in Arizona seems really off the mark,” said Natalie Koch, a professor of geography at Syracuse University.
“What are they using?” she said, “they are using Arizona’s very lax water laws.
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La Paz County Superintendent Holly Irwin said: “We have started receiving complaints from residents that their wells are running dry.
According to Irwin, the more straw Fondmonte sticks into the ground to draw groundwater, the more stress it puts on the Butler Valley aquifer.
Also, heavy rainstorms do not replenish groundwater. Groundwater can be hundreds or even thousands of years old and is generally not considered renewable.
“There are absolutely no restrictions placed on these wells,” said Irwin.
Most of Arizona’s rural groundwater is unregulated, experts say. Even while the state is in a slowly progressing mega-drought (but that slowly) drain the reservoirs that feed the West.
Drastic reductions in the Colorado River’s water are already hurting agricultural users in the state. Some farmers were completely cut off from the Colorado River.In the first place, if there is a well, there is no choice but to rely on well water.
But the Butler Valley does not use water from the Colorado River. There are no canals to carry it. It runs entirely on groundwater.
“Now companies are coming in and they are depleting natural resources. That is the problem. States will have to address this problem at some point.”
Newly elected Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays ran on the promise of challenging the state’s lease agreement with Fondmonte.
Now that she’s been elected, she said she wants to withdraw the pact within six months.
“I’ve never seen anything this bad by a state government in my life,” Mays said.
Mays believes these leases are illegal gifts under the state constitution. And she wants repayment for the water Fondmonte used: $38 million.
“Every day counts,” Mays said. “That water comes out of the ground every day.”
“Arizonas are right to be outraged that Arizona allowed a Saudi-owned company to stick straws in the ground and suck up water for free,” she said.
“It’s completely unfair,” said Holly Irwin. “It’s a crime in my opinion.
Bill Farr doesn’t know what the future holds. His water company doesn’t make him rich. He doesn’t get paid anymore. He has an offer to buy the company, but he says he won’t accept it.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, to be honest,” he said. “Tired.”
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