Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration on Monday announced two steps to stop a controversial Saudi Arabian company from using groundwater beneath state land in western Arizona to grow and export alfalfa.
Hobbs said in a statement that the Arizona State Land Department had canceled one of its leases to Fondomonte Arizona, and would not renew three others that are set to expire in February.
You guys in the US are using up way too much of your groundwater for farming in scorching hot areas like Arizona and Texas even without the Saudis. Isn’t there enough farmland in states with a less hostile climate?
In the past there were enormous aquifers below the surface. The water was under so much pressure that you could tap it and it would erupt like a geyser. So for generations farmers in these areas had what they thought was unlimited water. Now those aquifers are empty or nearly empty and these farmers are resistant to that reality.
Of course no one wants to face this devastating reality…
In the end it will probably be a large wealth transfer from the states without groundwater to the ones that still have groundwater. Farmers will have to buy land in the groundwater states and the land in the dry states will be practically worthless.
I’m a true believer in technology so I’m hopeful that there will be considerable innovation in desalinization so we can continue to farm in arid areas.
Or we could just not live in the desert, living in biomes suitable to us and wasting fewer resources is more viable
I just don’t see how that could be accomplished legally or politically.
Subsidies, taxes, tax credits, zoning, etc.
Maybe. (1) I don’t think there’s the political will to enact anything like that & (2) I don’t think that would entice as many people as you think. People get really attached to their home. These areas are growing. The population in the southwest has grown over 11% in the last decade and it’s projected to continue to grow.
Doesn’t address the entire cities already there. We ain’t forcing entire cities to just abandon ship.
It’s far more useful if we talk about actually making what’s already there sustainable rather than some authoritarian march out of the deserts.