Prof. Natalie Koch explores the relationship between Arizona and Saudi Arabia in "Arid Empire"

In recent months, Fondomonte Arizona, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-based Almarai dairy company has been getting renewed attention for growing alfalfa in drought-prone Arizona, and sending it to Saudi Arabia to feed the country’s cows. Despite a worsening drought, several factors including political influence and lack of regulations have allowed the company to draw an unlimited amount of groundwater from the wells it operates in the area. According to the Associated Press, the two new wells would have pumped in just three minutes what a family of four uses in a month. Why did Saudi Arabia choose Arizona for its crop production? In her new book "Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arabia and Arizona" (University of Syracuse), political geographer Professor Natalie Koch explores the exchange of colonial technologies between the Arabian Peninsula and the United States over the last two centuries. She spoke with Malihe Razazan. Courtesy of Voices of the Middle East & North Africa (VOMENA).