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Why Saudi Arabia bought 14,000 acres of US farm land
Christian Science Monitor ^ | March 28, 2016 | Elliot Spagat and Aya Batrawy,

Posted on 03/30/2016 12:16:17 PM PDT by yoe

The Middle Eastern kingdom needs hay for its 170,000 cows. So, it's buying up farmland for the water-chugging crop in the drought-stricken American Southwest.

Saudi Arabia's largest dairy company will soon be unable to farm alfalfa in its own parched country to feed its 170,000 cows. So it's turning to an unlikely place to grow the water-chugging crop — the drought-stricken American Southwest.

Almarai Co. bought land in January that roughly doubled its holdings in California's Palo Verde Valley, an area that enjoys first dibs on water from the Colorado River. The company also acquired a large tract near Vicksburg, Arizona, becoming a powerful economic force in a region that has fewer well-pumping restrictions than other parts of the state....

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; US: California; US: New York
KEYWORDS: 2016election; agriculture; alfalfa; animalhusbandry; arizona; ayabatrawy; california; christianscience; coloradoriver; dairy; election2016; elliotspagat; farming; newyork; paloverdevalley; ranching; saudiarabia; trump; trumpwasright; vicksburg; water
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Arizona is involved in this mining of water that will not only cause subsidence but over the years will rob the citizens of water for even daily use....look at California in a drought cycle with their citizens having to ration their water while the Saudis use water to grow feed for their cattle etc....they ship it to Arabia. Some of these aquifers are from ancient times when glaciers covered the land....they will not replenish...in anyone's lifetime for generations to come...if ever.
1 posted on 03/30/2016 12:16:17 PM PDT by yoe
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To: yoe

We really should have got some of our own damned oil somewhere else and never get involved in that part of the world.


2 posted on 03/30/2016 12:18:31 PM PDT by the_individual2014
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To: yoe

WTF? The answer...if we had someone in the White Hut that had any sense...would be to sell the Saudis the finished product...meat, milk, whatever...not our land. WE can’t uy land here! Are we really just going to sit and watch while the Uniparty gives America away?


3 posted on 03/30/2016 12:19:53 PM PDT by jessduntno (The mind of a liberal...deceit, desire for control, greed, contradiction and fueled by hate.)
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To: yoe

Mexico has the right idea on this. Don’t let foreigners own land in your country.


4 posted on 03/30/2016 12:23:25 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: the_individual2014

We have enough here to supply us. It is all about one world happy family crap.


5 posted on 03/30/2016 12:23:52 PM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: jessduntno

We’ve been watching it for the last 30 years, not going to change any time soon.


6 posted on 03/30/2016 12:23:56 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: yoe

Why doesn’t Saudi Arabia just invest heavily in desalinization? They could then grow anything they wanted within 20 miles of the coast.


7 posted on 03/30/2016 12:24:30 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: jessduntno

We should make it a Bring Your Own Water deal and let them buy land along the Texas gulf coast, provided they install their own desalination plant.


8 posted on 03/30/2016 12:25:10 PM PDT by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: yoe

WOW - how many ‘speeches’ from Congressmen did they have to buy to get this favor?


9 posted on 03/30/2016 12:26:05 PM PDT by GOPJ ("We have the fight of our lives coming up to save our nation!" ~ Jim Robinson)
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To: yoe

They are shipping bales of hay? On land they purchased.

Makes much more sense to contract with 200 hay farmers in multiple locations to deliver x amount of hay each, and ship that.

Owning the land goes beyond just wanting hay, though.


10 posted on 03/30/2016 12:27:07 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: yoe

Plenty of hay for sale in north central Texas. I have some that I can’t find a buyer for and a new cutting probably in 30 days. Wish they would just buy our hay, and not the land!


11 posted on 03/30/2016 12:30:05 PM PDT by rigelkentaurus
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To: rigelkentaurus

Saudis have been buying U.S. hay for years. Thousands and thousands of dollars for a truck load of the good stuff. They fly it back to Saudi.


12 posted on 03/30/2016 12:33:35 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy
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To: PGR88

They can buy our politicians, err, land cheaper.


13 posted on 03/30/2016 12:33:55 PM PDT by Ingtar (64.7% del allocated. Trump 61.0%, Cruz 37.7% of required for nomination 3/23)
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To: yoe

Given that oil is plentiful in SA, it surprises me that it’s cheaper to purchase the land, raise the crop, truck it to a port, load it, ship it thousands of miles, unload it, truck it to the farms rather than desalinating sea water and growing the crop there.


14 posted on 03/30/2016 12:34:20 PM PDT by pluvmantelo (Barack Obama-gleefully bringing taharrush gamea to your neighborhood)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

It is not just Mexico.

Most every country limits foreigners from actually buying stuff.

We are the odd men out.


15 posted on 03/30/2016 12:34:24 PM PDT by cba123
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To: yoe

“Land, see snatch.”


16 posted on 03/30/2016 12:34:31 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: DBrow

Bet they build a mosque in the middle of it.


17 posted on 03/30/2016 12:35:11 PM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: dfwgator

It’s amazing how frequently that movie’s dialogue is applicable to current events.


18 posted on 03/30/2016 12:39:18 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: PGR88

“Why doesn’t Saudi Arabia just invest heavily in desalinization? They could then grow anything they wanted within 20 miles of the coast.”

Good point. They could expand their economy by diversifying out of oil and into ag products as an export or hell, even for internal consumption. .


19 posted on 03/30/2016 12:39:32 PM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: yoe

I’m just surprised its Arizona, unless they really like being close to a desert. There are plenty of places they could have chosen for hay fields I would think would be more productive though. As far as them owning the land, who cares? they can’t take it with them, they will still be subject to every law in the books, they will have to pay taxes, pay farmers to do the fieldwork, who the hell cares if they shelled out the bucks so that they have control over what is grown. They probably did it because of some stupid muslim ancient bylaw that forbids their cows from eating grass touched by an infidel or something. Or maybe they are tired of getting moldy hay that was crap and just wanted a good quality control. Land for sustenance I’m okay with, but things like infrastructure and cutting edge technology is where I want the line drawn at.


20 posted on 03/30/2016 12:40:11 PM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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