The state of Arizona will no longer allow a farm owned by a Saudi Arabian company to freely pump groundwater from beneath state land, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs announced Tuesday.
Fondomonte Arizona, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian giant Almarai, has leased since 2015 3,000 acres of state land to grow alfalfa which is shipped overseas to feed the kingdom’s dairy cows, and has been pumping the groundwater from that land free of charge.
Alfalfa is a particularly water-intensive crop, and Saudi Arabia in 2018 banned its production in its borders. Fodomonte’s leases have become the focus of criticism in the state as the West’s groundwater crisis mounts, and the leases were panned by politicians on both sides of the aisle during last year’s gubernatorial election.
(Arizona Republic, New York Times $, Washington Post $, AP)