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In Arizona, it's not even the US consumption. They're selling the alfafa to Saudi Arabia, which won't grow it itself because it uses too much water. https://ww

• TaylorAlexander 3y ago
  Well of course they won’t grow it. They’re in a desert and that would be ridiculous! /joke
  • manquer 3y ago
    Interestingly Saudi Arabia has been super wasteful of their water too. They have all but drained their aquifers that takes thousands of years to replenish in a bid to become self sufficient in their food supplies. Now they are taking some corrective action with investing more in desalination, reducing certain type of agricultural produce etc.
    • prottog 3y ago
      One of the theoretical advantages of an absolute monarchy or any other totalitarian form of government is that it should be able to make unpopular decisions (i.e. prevent the people from accessing groundwater resources) that are good in the long run (i.e. the aquifers don't all run out within a few decades). Strange how that plays out in reality.
      • reducesuffering 3y ago
        They would've if they took the Chinese approach to gradually improve the standard of living organically through productivity improvements and education. Saudi Arabia instead immediately skyrocketed their standard of living far past what the population can do productively without oil. Populations don't take well to huge standard of living decreases that are inevitable when oil $ runs out to subsidize everything in the state enormously.
        • kibwen 3y ago
          > They would've if they took the Chinese approach to gradually improve the standard of living organically through productivity improvements and education. Well, since the topic is authoritarianism, note that the Chinese approach resulted in a few tens of millions dead, which is worse than what the Saudis have managed so far: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward
          • reducesuffering 3y ago
            Of course, I meant the Deng Xiaoping reforms
      • kibwen 3y ago
        > should be able to make unpopular decisions that are good in the long run Well, no, totalitarianism is characterized by the unilateral exercise of power, and the results will vary wildly depending on who your tyrant is. Tyrants are easily as dumb as the average person; dumber, perhaps, if you think that absolute power corrupts one's ability to view the world objectively (or that those who have a tendency to seek absolute power might correlate with those who do not have the best interests of others at heart).
• Dig1t 3y ago
  It's actually a brilliant move on the part of the Saudis. They are essentially pumping Arizona's aquifer across the globe and the alfalfa is a convenient storage mechanism.
  • Scoundreller 3y ago
    Saudi Arabia is doing the same with its aquifers. They also have the foresight to do it near one of its borders (I used to do the same thing in SimCity: shit my coal plants in the corner). https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Saudi+Arabia/@30.1201859,37.9765918,178893m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x15e7b33fe7952a41:0x5960504bc21ab69b!8m2!3d23.885942!4d45.079162!16zL20vMDF6MjE1 https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Saudi+Arabia/@30.1201859,37...
• Tangurena2 3y ago
  It illegal to grow alfalfa in Saudi Arabia. This was pointed out in all the Arizona newspapers when they found out about the Saudi connection.