Saudi farm brings Arizona water controversy to boiling point

A Saudi Arabian company is at the center of a water controversy in Arizona that bubbled to the surface during the 2022 election cycle. While Canadian-controlled companies are by far the largest foreign owners of agricultural land in the state, it is the 10,000-acre Saudi-owned alfalfa farm that has garnered the most attention.
 

The southwestern United States is experiencing its worst drought in 1,200 years, what experts call a “megadrought.” Despite this, “irrigated agriculture” on Arizona farms consumes roughly “74% of the available water supply,” according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources website.

“Arizona and the rest of the stakeholders on the Colorado [River] have managed to kick the can down the road for 100 years, but the west has grown beyond the physical reality of the river. There’s just not enough water anymore to support nonstrategic growth,” water policy expert Dan Schaefer told The Media Line.