Arizona to cancel leases allowing Saudi-owned farm access to state’s groundwater

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Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said this week her administration is terminating state land leases that for years have given a Saudi-owned farm nearly unfettered access to pump groundwater in the dry southwestern state. Read more.

Why this matters: On Monday, Hobbs said the state had canceled Fondomonte Arizona’s lease in Butler Valley and would not renew three other leases up next year, after an investigation by the governor’s office had found that the foreign-owned farm had violated some lease terms.   Fondomonte Arizona, a subsidiary of Saudi dairy giant Almarai Co., raised eyebrows when it purchased nearly 10,000 acres of Arizona land for $47.5 million in 2014. Since then, worsening drought in the state has brought renewed attention to the company’s water use and broader issues of foreign-owned farms and groundwater pumping.

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