Well, FWIW, there are farms around here. In the south central AZ where I live (Pinal County) we grow lots of cotton and even some corn (!?!). How we can get the water to do the latter beats me, but there are a few fields of it every year.
There's also a few total confinement type cattle operations (not free range). I suppose someone is running hogs somewhere, but I don't know where.
Just shows how really different being north of the Mogollon rim is. K7MEM lives in a whole different state than I do in just about all respects.
Yes, I know that area very well. I moved to Phoenix in 1974 and lived on the West side (Glendale,Peoria) until 2011. When I first moved to Phoenix, there were no freeways other than I-17. No 101, no 202, no 303. Even I-10 didn't exist. It took a lot of years to put those freeways in place. In the late 70's they started to make the connection between I-10 south and I-10 west. I would watch the construction every day, on my way to work. But in 1980, I took a contract to work in Germany. When I left, all they had built were the bridges. But when I returned, in 1984, that's all they had done. Nothing changed.
And, yes, cotton was king. They grew more cotton than they did in the cotton belt (south east). I worked in Goodyear and had to travel surface streets, through all of the cotton fields, to get to work. It was common to drive along and see a crop duster coming at you only 10 feet off the ground. That's something you never get use to. I use to check to see if I had tire marks on the roof of my car.
I also recall, in the spring when the winds shifted, the odor of the feed lots (cattle farms) would permeate the air. If you asked "what's that smell?" you would be told "that's the smell of money".
While I am north of the Mogollon rim, I am way north-west of it. Ash Fork is about 50 miles west of Flagstaff. And Flagstaff is about 100 miles north of Phoenix. We live on the edge of the Kaibab National Forest about 60 miles south of the Grand Canyon. If I need to go to a Home Depot or Walmart, I have to make a day of it.
Ash Fork is also at 5,200 feet altitude. So this area is considered "high desert". The area is very rocky. There is a ring of about 7 volcanoes in the area and lots of flagstone. Ash Fork is the Flagstone Capitol of the US. If you have a flagstone walk way, it probably came from here. They ship all over the US. Day in, day out, semis load with flagstone come and go. It's about the only big business in the area.
But if you are up here some time, don't mess with the cows. The cows up here are not milk cows. They are beef cows and they travel in small herds (10-20) with bulls. And the bulls don't want anyone messing with their cows. Tourists think their cute, but the learn very quickly to stay away.