A dairy from Saudi Arabia has spent more than $31 million to buy California farmland to supply its business with alfalfa hay.
Reuters reports the Almarai Company spent more than $17,000 an acre for the near 1,800 acres of land located in the southeast corner of California.
Almarai, which already owns land in Arizona, said the purchase was part of efforts to secure high-quality hay from outside Saudi Arabia, in line with Saudi government policy.
Saudi Arabia is phasing out the growing of crops because of the strain such cultivation places on scarce water resources in the desert.
The companies cost will increase by the equivalent of $53 million because of the ban on cultivation, with the amount rising each year through 2019.
