Arizona’s newest senator, Sine Kerr, follows in the footsteps of former Sen. Steve Pierce and the late Sen. Chester Crandell as a lawmaker who lives and breathes the agricultural lifestyle.

A bill requiring the collection of data, such as the water levels of basins and the number of wells in northwestern Arizona, isn’t going anywhere at the state Capitol, but it’s having an impact anyway.

For centuries, Native Americans – just like my fellow farmers – have called upon the land they call home to make their way in the world.

Farmworkers in the nationai??i??s largest agricultural state will be entitled to the same overtime pay as most other hourly workers under a law signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown.

Officials said the state has precious little control over water in Mohave County or any county in Arizona.

The federal subsidies that prop up cotton farming in Arizona are just one of myriad ways policymakers have refused to reshape laws to reflect water shortages throughout the Colorado River Basin states.

The Colorado River may see a shortage as soon as next year, and the probability of one in 2017 jumps to 61 percent. If Lake Mead’s water level drops below 1,075 feet, agricultural users of Central Arizona Project water will see a big cut.

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.