Opinion: Arizona’s alfalfa is essential, water crisis solution that leads to food supply issue is no fix
Concerns over the Colorado River have led the everyday Arizonan to think about water in ways they haven’t before. As a result, much has been made as of late about growing “thirsty crops” in Arizona’s desert climate. It doesn’t take long to find an opinion or editorial about how farming alfalfa is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the water system in Arizona. This rhetoric needs to stop. Here’s why. When you hear that agriculture uses nearly three-fourths of Arizona’s water, it is easy to draw the conclusion that the best way to save water for growing urban populations is to take it from the largest user. In reality, though, that water is already being consumed by that urban population each and every time they sit down for a meal.
-Written by Chelsea McGuire, the Arizona Farm Bureau Government Relations Director.