0 Shares 0



0

0







Saudi Arabia’s Almarai Co., reportedly the largest dairy company in the Gulf, has finalized a deal to buy a large swath of land in California’s southeast corner for $31.8 million. The company intends to use the land to grow and export alfalfa hay to the kingdom, in order to feed its herds.

The company purchased the 1,790 acres of land through Fondomonte California LLC, an American operation owned by Almarai Co.

In a statement, the company said the land was purchased through its own resources. The purchase “forms part of Almarai's continuous efforts to improve and secure its supply of the highest quality alfalfa hay from outside the (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to support its dairy business. It is also in line with the Saudi government direction toward conserving local resources."

The new purchase is located in Blythe, California, an agricultural town on the Arizona-California border, as well as the Colorado River.

This is the second large purchase of southern farmland by Almarai--two years ago the company bought 10,000 acres of farmland in nearby Vicksburg, Arizona for approximately $48 million.

Critics were quick to call the deal exploitative to American farmers, already facing shortfalls of water and sinking water tables.

Holly Irwin, County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman asked “We're not getting oil for free, so why are we giving our water away for free?"

Irwin added, "We're letting them come over here and use up our resources. It's very frustrating for me, especially when I have residents telling me that their wells are going dry and they have to dig a lot deeper for water. It's costly for them to drill new wells."

And in a November statement, Irwin decried the influence of foreign entities in her primarily farmland county. “The lack of control is the primary reason that the door has opened for large commercial farms to pursue massive growing operations year round that take advantage of cheap water and allow their management located thousands of miles away to make decisions that do not require them to consider the negative impact to our communities or residents.”

Saudi has been phasing out alfalfa hay crops in particular, because the large scale growing of hay depletes the soil at a fast rate, especially with limited water resources in the country’s desert regions. The Saudi cabinet announced in December that green fodder cultivation will end in the next three years.

Almarai stated recently that its cost will rise significantly this year--by around 200 million riyals or $53 million--because of the government’s ban on green fodder. The cost will rise each year until the company, keeping in line with Saudi policy, imports the totality of its hay in 2019.

The purchase of farmland is not the only large investment Saudi companies and political figures have made in the United States.

A New York Times report outlines the multi-million real estate investments of Saudi royalty in the Time Warner Center, overlooking Central Park in New York. In 2006, the daughter of a former Saudi king, Princess Haifa bint Faisal and her husband, a former ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, bought high-end condos in the building. The condos were purchased and registered under a limited liability company to protect the Saudi royal family names.