Worries about future water supplies from ancient aquifers are bubbling up in western rural Arizona. Some neighbors complain that their backyard wells have dried up since an Emirati agribusiness began farming alfalfa nearby.

A blanket of bright green alfalfa spreads across western Arizona’s McMullen Valley, ringed by rolling mountains and warmed by the hot desert sun.

Matthew Hancock’s family has used groundwater to grow forage crops here for more than six decades. They’re long accustomed to caprices of Mother Nature that can spoil an entire alfalfa cutting with a downpour or generate an especially big yield with a string of blistering days.

But concerns about future water supplies from the valley’s ancient aquifers, which hold groundwater supplies, are bubbling up in Wenden, a town of around 700 people where the Hancock family farms.

Some neighbors complain their backyard wells have dried up since the Emirati agribusiness Al Dahra began farming alfalfa here on about 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) several years ago.

  • A_A@lemmy.world
    35·
    1 year ago

    Sounds like a made up word (but no) :
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa

    Alfalfa, also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant (…). It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as well as a green manure and cover crop.

      • A_A@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        Very good indeed. I heard there is concern about salmonella bacteria in alfalfa… Maybe soaking in water + salt + vinegar be enough ?
        Edit (from wikipedia) :

        Alfalfa sprouts may contain microbiological pathogens, mainly from Salmonella or E. coli, which have caused numerous food product recalls and illness outbreaks, putting sprouts into a “high risk” category for food safety. People with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly, pregnant women, or those taking prescription drugs affecting the immune system, should not eat sprouts.