The Arizonan land was particularly appealing to the kingdom “because you can get more bang for your buck when you buy that farm,” according to Koch. “If they want to be able to guarantee their population food security, they know that they can’t really do that domestically,” said Natalie Koch, a geography professor at Syracuse University and author of a recent book about the link between Arizona and the Arabian Peninsula. The transactions served to improve and secure Almarai’s “supply of the highest quality alfalfa hay” - a move that the company described in Saudi Exchange reports as “in line with the Saudi government direction toward conserving local resources.” Nearly two years later, Almarai announced a $31.8 million deal for 1,790 acres in Southern California. With discussions of future cutbacks already on the horizon, Saudi Arabian dairy giant Almarai secured 9,834 acres in Vicksburg in a $47.5 million deal - through its fully owned subsidiary Fondomonte Arizona LLC - in March 2014. To overcome inevitable shortages, the kingdom directed dairy farms to turn to imports. Saudi Arabia instituted a near-ban on “cultivating green fodder” in November 2018, with the goal of easing pressure on water resources, according to a report from the Dutch government. “They’re coming here because Arizona almost invites it,” Lingenfelter said. This nonrestrictive environment has attracted not only local and domestic farmers, but also international companies that are unable to grow such water-intensive crops at home. If you’re outside of the AMA, it’s the Wild West.” “If you’re in an AMA, you have water security, you have water certainty. “We live in two very different Arizonas right now,” said Travis Lingenfelter, a supervisor for neighboring Mohave County. Just five parts of the state - including Phoenix and Tucson - have AMAs, while rural agricultural areas have no such protections. La Paz and most of its neighbors do not contain “ Active Management Areas” (AMAs), zones that require groundwater regulation under state code. “We don’t have any restrictions on our groundwater,” Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor, told The Hill.
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