Agriculture in Arizona

I am in the airport, on the way home from the the AFBF Young Farmer & Rancher Annual Leadership Conference, which was held in Phoenix, AZ over the last three days. If you ever get the chance to attend this event, I cannot recommend it enough. I've been two years in a row, and it has been one of my all-time favorites each time.
We had roughly two and a half days of meetings, speakers, networking meals and the collegiate discussion meet to keep us occupied. There will be more coverage of that in the publications I write for, and hopefully on here as well in upcoming weeks.
On the last day, we toured local agriculture operations. On my tour we went to a dairy that has 28,000 animals, 8,000-9,000 of which are milking cows (the rest are the calves and yearlings that aren't milking age yet). We also went to the place that provides places like Hobby Lobby and Pottery Barn with much of their plant based home decor items, like wheat wreathes. Our last stop was a college ag research center, where we saw a cotton gin built in the 1930's process cotton. Very cool!

Here is a quick rundown of some other things I learned about agriculture production and issues in AZ:

- They get 8-10 cuttings of alfalfa a year! Their major markets are local dairies, like the one I visited.

- One man said if he pulls out of his field and gets mud on the highway, there is a first-time fine of $10,000, and after that it goes to $20,000 per fine.

- Dust regulation is also a big deal, and when the wind blows the sand around (it is a desert...) they call the farmers to let them know they're creating too much dust based on what their daily allotments are.

- It costs $50 per acre foot of water, if you have a water right. People either have water rights or don't, depending on whether they farmed during specific years in the 1970's, or not.

- The area around Phoenix gets 8 inches of moisture a year, in about two storms most of the time. If you raise a crop, you irrigate it.

- Irrigation water comes from captured snow pack runoff and from collecting water during the major storms bringing the land it's annual precipitation.

- The first single row cotton picker could pick 9,000 lbs. of cotton a day. The best human worker could pick between 400 and 450 lbs.

- If you see illegal aliens in southern Arizona, and they're in a row walking along, that's called a mule pack. If they have little backpacks, they're probably alright. But, if they have big backpacks, they're likely each full of 100 pounds of marijuana or cocaine, and there will be people at the front and back with machine guns that will kill you.

- Our local Arizonan on our tour bus said these illegals coming through have completely destroyed the landscape in very southern Arizona, littering it with trash and making ranching dangerous and nearly impossible.

- One major reason for not putting up a more permanent fence (our local said its old, three-wire barbwire with no border markings in most rural areas) between us and Mexico is because a few herds of antelope and elk travel back and forth, and the government doesn't want to eliminate their connectivity. This also results in cattle between the two countries mixing regularly.

- On nights will full moons, cattle pots of illegals will be dropped at the border, and walking across. Don't go hunting or cow gathering when there's a full moon.

- If you get caught in Mexico with a gun, it's so many years in prison for each bullet in your gun. And their prisons are known for their "great hospitality." Hello America....

Deportation

Yesterday Axel was deported. Well, the process started a few weeks ago, but yesterday he boarded a plane for Germany with a one-way ticket.
Today he would find a way to strangle me if he knew I was writing this, with a photo that includes sheep, but that's just too bad.

Axel was born in Germany, or Austria, he is from right on the boarder somewhere. But for the entire story we need to go back in time even farther.
My grandparents got involved in an ag. exchange program based out of Chicago several decades ago because they knew the guy who started it. The program brought young men from Germany to the U.S. for one to two years to learn about American agriculture.
My family hosted several of these young men and some great friendships were formed. We have some amazing and hilarious stories about our experiences with them.
Axel is the son of one of these original exchange students. Several children of the original students have been to the U.S., either on vacation or to work for a couple years. One man (maybe Axel's father?) requires all of his children to visit America for a period of time.
So, about 10 years ago a young Axel (around 18 at the time) arrived at my grandma's house to work for our family and learn about America. You could barely understand him and as a 14 (or so) year old at the time he was unique, to say the least, to my cousins, siblings and I.
Since then he has become family, that's the easiest way to put it. He's one of us now. He's worked for my uncle for the majority of his time in America. But he also went to college, first in Sheridan, then at the University of Wyoming and has an associates and bachelors degree.
He's worked for a number of other people across the state and knows everyone. He is my grandmother's 5th grandchild and she fusses over him to the point of irritation.
He is everything you think a German would be. Tall, stout, blonde haired, blue eyed and argumentative. He likes to bark orders at people and would run right over you if you allowed it, but he also has a very nice side, so he would probably gruffly apologize afterward. He can also been seen carrying my grandmother's purse, baked goods and dog regularly (obviously he's all bark) Very sharp and opinionated with a face he almost always tries to keep scowling, but he often fails. He eats oatmeal with cold milk (as in uncooked) and yogurt and coffee when he isn't within distance of my grandmother's cooking.
He hates my horse, teases me about my dogs, complains that my grandmother and I are the most stubborn women on the planet and will never see reason. He also started a bible study group while we were in college together, loves his horses and dogs and truck (all of which he had to sell) and gets up at irrationally early hours.
He has always wanted to be a cowboy. This isn't an easy title to get in my family, but he is one today. Since day one he has been thrown into the mix of riding, doctoring, fencing, farming and everything else involved in ranching both in the Black Hills and on the eastern plains of the state. For the last year he has been in charge of several thousand yearlings on the Laramie plains. To me, a winter spent on the Laramie plains qualifies you as a cowboy in most cases. We often say it either qualifies you or cures you from wanting to be one.
He loves America, he pays taxes, is honest, believes in God and is, in my opinion, the perfect candidate for a Greencard.
But he can't get one, and this is at least in part his own fault for not pursuing some options to obtaining one. He made a couple mistakes there. But then I see that these car bombers from Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries that hate America seem to get their Greencards approved by the dozen and it ticks me off.
Here is the type of individual that can positively enhance our country and he is thrown out while at the same time individuals of obviously questionable character are welcomed with seemingly open arms.
I know God is in control and there is a reason for this, but I still find it frustrating.