It's the Circle of Stuff
Posted on 11/03/2015 12:04:32 PM PST by george76
VICKSBURG, AZ - Like a desert mirage, the Almarai hay farm about 100 miles west of the Valley sprawls out on almost 10,000 acres.
Buildings rise from the dust, and an endless stream of delivery trucks come and go.
The bustle of activity is from alfalfa feeds as far as the eye can see.
Saudi Arabian state-run media reports Almarai bought the land last year.
That was after a Saudi government directive to conserve that nation's natural resources.
Experts say underground reservoirs and ancient aquifers have almost dried up in Saudi Arabia after decades of modern farming.
And since Almarai started operations in La Paz County, reports indicate the water tables have begun to lower.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc15.com ...
It seems amazing to think it is cost effective to export “hay” from Arizona across the oceans.
Reporter Nathan Halverson tells NPR’s Renee Montagne that Almarai bought about 15 square miles in the Arizona desert.
“They got about 15 water wells when they purchased the property. Now, each one of those wells can pump about 1.5 billion gallons of water. It’s an incredible amount of water they’re going to be drawing up from that aquifer underground,” Halverson says.
The land in question had previously been under cultivation for corn, cotton and other crops, including smaller amounts of alfalfa for hay, he tells The Salt. Halverson’s sources told him that the farm is now consuming significantly more water, since alfalfa is a particularly thirsty crop.
It turns out that hay yields in the desert are the best in the United States. You can literally get three or four times as much hay growing in the desert because you have a very long growing season: It’s hot, so the hay dries really quickly once you cut it. But the rub here is that you need ... lots of water. The temperatures are so high that it takes a lot more water to keep that barren soil moist for the alfalfa to grow.
Okay, I can see how this offsets a lot of transportation cost.
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17566
Greater than 99% of US hay exports are from the western ports of Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, Oakland, and Long Beach/Los Angeles. The southern port of Long Beach/LA tends to be favored due to high volume of trade there, and the resulting large volume of ‘empties’ sent back to Asia from that port, resulting in less expensive shipping costs.
We deplete their oil, they take our money and in turn deplete our water to make hay to feed their Arabian mares and stallions.
So it goes.
I used to think that the KSA had nothing beautiful expect a few "desert roses." (native rocks)
Then I am reminded that the world finest horses started there. Whodda thunk? Nice to know they have SOMETHING beautiful.
It’s also used to feed cows and sheep.
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I once read that when you are in the desert, the first crop you grow is a grass (regular grass or hay or alfalfa). Grow it for several years and you will have left the ground prepared for more hearty crops.
I am not a farmer, but it made sense to me.
Thats an awful lot of water.
Hay is for horses. It’s not about hay, it’s about a foothold.
As far as draining the aquifers goes wouldn’t they be subject to the same laws and regulations as any other land owner in AZ?
The reason I ask is because NPR makes it sound like the Saudis are getting away with something that previous land owners couldn’t. Are they xenophobes over there at NPR?
stop them , and stop them now.
Any politician asking for Muslims needs to be recalled ASAP and labeled a traitor, IMO.
It's the Circle of Stuff
Since frakking isn’t the source of the earthquake swarms, maybe its the loss of the water? Our water table has been dropping for a while hasn’t it?
I agree.
And, most important, female goats
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