Agriculture was big business long before the first Spanish conquistador, Franciscan friar or American wagon train reached the Valley of the Sun.

Centuries of canal-building, first by the Huhugam, followed by their descendents the Akimel O’odham people (also known as Pimas) and their Pee-Posh, or Maricopa, neighbors, brought life-giving water from the Gila, Salt and other local rivers to fertile fields of corn, beans, squash, tobacco, lima beans and cotton.

Scanning the laptop bolted to a stand in the cab of his pickup, Darrell Hale ran down the list of complaints. Topping it was a call about horses with oozing eye infections.

The call was made to Hale’s employer, the Arizona Department of Agriculture. He’s one of nine livestock officers in the agency’s Animal Health and Welfare Program, all reporting to the state veterinarian.