Saudi Wells Running Dry -- of Water -- Spell End of Desert Wheat

[riversedge]

Source: Bloomberg.com


November 3, 2015 — 6:00 PM CST
Updated on November 3, 2015 — 8:17 PM CST





Cultured farms in sit in Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images




Riyadh will import all the wheat needed for 2016 consumption
Aquifers that had irrigated wheat crops depleting rapidly



For decades, only a few features punctuated the vastness of the Saudi desert: oil wells, oases -- and wheat fields.

Despite torrid weather and virtually no rain, the world’s largest oil producer once grew so much of the grain that its exports could feed Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. The circular wheat farms, half a mile across with a central sprinkler system, spread across the desert in the 1980s and 1990s, visible in spring to anyone overflying the Arabian peninsula as green spots amid a dun sea of sand.

The oilfields remain, but the last wheat farms have just disappeared to save the aquifers supplying them. For the first time, Saudi Arabia will rely almost completely on wheat imports in 2016, a reversal from its policy of self-sufficiency. It will become a full member of the club of Middle Eastern nations that, according to the commodity-trade adage, "sell hydrocarbons to buy carbohydrates."

The shift toward imports, which started eight years ago, is reverberating beyond the kingdom, providing business opportunities for grain traders such as Cargill Inc and Glencore Plc as well as for farmers in countries such as Germany and Canada.

"The Saudis are the largest new wheat buyer to emerge," said Swithun Still, director of grain trader Solaris Commodities SA in Morges, Switzerland.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/saudi-wells-running-dry-of-water-spell-end-of-desert-wheat

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Whow-they ran their aquifers dry.

[murielm99]

1. A combination of overuse and

global warming?

[magical thyme]

7. no, not global warming. overpopulation.

aquifers everywhere will run dry due to overuse.

Deserts can't support large, stable populations. That's why they used to be home to small, nomadic populations. Drilling into aquifers is a new phenomena and never was going to last.

[daleo]

9. Global warming adds to the problem

Irrigation systems are bound to lose more water to evaporation at higher temperatures.

[magical thyme]

10. the point is that even without global warming, this was going to happen

it may have taken a few years longer, but it was inevitable and going to happen within most of our lifetimes. They were dependent on aquifers, not rainfall, right from the get-go.

[daleo]

13. I certainly agree

[MADem]

2. Why grow your own--at great EXPENSE--when you can buy for cheaper?

The shift is propitious as the wheat market weathers the largest glut in nearly 30 years, with bumper harvests filling up silos from Russia to Argentina. Prices for high-quality wheat, which reached an all-time high in Kansas City of more than $13 per bushel in 2008, have fallen to less than $5 this year.
Saudi Arabia is already the world’s largest importer of barley, used to feed camels; and among the top 15 in sorghum, another cereal used as animal feed; and of corn.
It may not be the last country to turn away from growing its own crops. Aquifers in other key agricultural regions, including northern India and northern China, are also under pressure. The stress is compounded by erratic rains, which some blame on climate change.

It's cheaper to buy it than grow their own.

The Saudis are at the forefront of desalinization efforts--they're going to keep moving forward in that regard. I wouldn't be surprised if they fund the breakthrough--we'll see. Also, I would expect them to stay in the energy game--with solar panels replacing black gold. One thing they've got is a shitload of sunlight and lots of vast areas that are well suited for solar farms. They also get some good winds in that region, too.

[thelordofhell]

3. Reminds Me Of The Oldie...........

Try not to laugh at the "buck and a half for a gallon of gas" line.......

[4139]

4. That is California's future... La Niņa forecasted to immediately follow El Niņo and the means ....

drought

[Delver Rootnose]

5. And when the oil runs low....

...or before the kingdom will fall because the monied will flee and the poor will be starving and radicalism will flourish.

[DetlefK]

6. And global warming will only make it worse.

The area of the Persian Gulf (Iran's southern coast, Saudi-Arabia's eastern coast, Qatar, the UAE andsoforth) will get so hot that it will be literally uninhabitable on some summer-days.
SURVIVING OUTSIDE ON THESE DAYS WITHOUT A SPACE-AGE ENVIRO-SUIT WILL BE LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE.
If the weather-service announces such a day, stay indoors or die.

The summers will also get hotter in general in the region. It is expected that many elderly and children will die by heatstrokes during the hottest summer-days. As the Hadj also happens under open sky, pilgrims are especially at risk.

And now, in addition to their desert-climate getting even hotter, they are running out of water.




It's a very real possibility that the Saudi-Arabians will no longer accept the tyranny of the House of Saud when the quality-of-life suffers. Many will seek solace in an alternative... and that alternative might very well be the islamic extremism of ISIS, because it was actually invented by saudi clerics.

[DhhD]

8. Wahhabism-Radical Islam started in Saudi Arabia.

http://atheism.about.com/od/islamicsects/a/wahhabi.htm

[MrsMatt]

11. they are also purchasing land in the Arizona desert

to grow alfalfa for their dairy industry.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/02/453885642/saudi-hay-farm-in-arizona-tests-states-supply-of-groundwater

[magical thyme]

14. capitalist greed, and why we need regulation

You can grow alfalfa in less hot places, where water is more available and, with cooler temps and good soil, less is needed.

But in a capitalist world, you grow it where you can get more, faster, and as much as possible the costs are "externalized." Others pay with their lives while you reap the rewards.

In a sense, capitalism is perpetual war by other means. Until the others catch on.

[patsimp]

12. ABout time Saudi Arabi sent money to other parts of the world