With rampant growth, Texas is not only one of the nation’s more demographically diverse states, but it is full of surprises. Few would imagine it is home to the most women-owned and operated farms, though most are probably aware of its stature within the fresh produce supply chain.
Add in the star power of major metropolitan centers like Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and the exceptionally fast-growing Rio Grande Valley—and you have high-wattage Tex-Appeal.
‘Tex-Appeal’ refers not only to the state’s fruit and vegetable production of more than 60 crops, but to its outsized role in international trade with Mexico. Find out more about buying and selling fresh produce in this Totally Texas spotlight.
Home State Advantage
Despite climbing imports, there are plenty of grower-shippers throughout the Lone Star State contributing to the nation’s fruit and vegetable supply. The fertile Rio Grande Valley accounts for many of these operations, with ongoing support provided by the state’s popular marketing program, Go Texan, administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Local produce continues to sell well, with a plethora of vegetables—including potatoes and sweet potatoes dominating the market—along with melons, berries, grapefruit, and tree nuts bringing in millions annually.
Local produce continues to sell well across the state.
The state also happens to be the U.S.’s top producer of cabbage. Steady sales portray a clear demand for Texas-grown cabbage with prices at $5.00 versus $3.50 from Mexico. “People will pay it,” declares Jared Leadbetter, in sales for Majestic Produce Sales Company in McAllen. “We’re not planning on setting the world on fire, but the last two years were good,” he shares.
In 2015, the state pulled in just under $31 million in cabbage sales, from 5,500 harvested acres. Although acreage for cabbage and other crops has been falling in some regions, as growers shift operations to Mexico for less expensive and readily available labor, Leadbetter believes the desire to support and consume local fruits and vegetables under the Go Texan label has kept sales strong.
Wild Weather
Every grower in the United States or North America and beyond contends with weather. Texas grower-shippers, however, experience more than their share of extreme temperature swings and Mother Nature’s wrath. A slice of Texas is in the nation’s infamous “Tornado Alley” bringing many dangerous storms that turn into highly destructive tornados.
With rampant growth, Texas is not only one of the nation’s more demographically diverse states, but it is full of surprises. Few would imagine it is home to the most women-owned and operated farms, though most are probably aware of its stature within the fresh produce supply chain.
Add in the star power of major metropolitan centers like Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and the exceptionally fast-growing Rio Grande Valley—and you have high-wattage Tex-Appeal.
‘Tex-Appeal’ refers not only to the state’s fruit and vegetable production of more than 60 crops, but to its outsized role in international trade with Mexico. Find out more about buying and selling fresh produce in this Totally Texas spotlight.
Home State Advantage
Despite climbing imports, there are plenty of grower-shippers throughout the Lone Star State contributing to the nation’s fruit and vegetable supply. The fertile Rio Grande Valley accounts for many of these operations, with ongoing support provided by the state’s popular marketing program, Go Texan, administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Local produce continues to sell well, with a plethora of vegetables—including potatoes and sweet potatoes dominating the market—along with melons, berries, grapefruit, and tree nuts bringing in millions annually.
Local produce continues to sell well across the state.
The state also happens to be the U.S.’s top producer of cabbage. Steady sales portray a clear demand for Texas-grown cabbage with prices at $5.00 versus $3.50 from Mexico. “People will pay it,” declares Jared Leadbetter, in sales for Majestic Produce Sales Company in McAllen. “We’re not planning on setting the world on fire, but the last two years were good,” he shares.
In 2015, the state pulled in just under $31 million in cabbage sales, from 5,500 harvested acres. Although acreage for cabbage and other crops has been falling in some regions, as growers shift operations to Mexico for less expensive and readily available labor, Leadbetter believes the desire to support and consume local fruits and vegetables under the Go Texan label has kept sales strong.
Wild Weather
Every grower in the United States or North America and beyond contends with weather. Texas grower-shippers, however, experience more than their share of extreme temperature swings and Mother Nature’s wrath. A slice of Texas is in the nation’s infamous “Tornado Alley” bringing many dangerous storms that turn into highly destructive tornados.
“Weather continues to be a wild card,” confirms Tony Stachurski, corporate vice president for Hardie’s Fruit & Vege-table Company, LP, headquartered in Dallas. “Looking at a three-year aggregate, we’ve had drought, flooding, and freezing cold,” he notes. Luckily, Hardie’s was not affected by any of the tornados that hit Texas in 2016 during March, April, May, and July.
Stachurski also left out heat waves, which have caused issues for nearby Marengo Foods, LLC, also based in Dallas. This past October, high temperatures affected peppers, which in turn impacted size. Marengo’s chief executive officer, Juan Ibarra, was rather disappointed in the smaller peppers, but at least the crop made it to harvest.
For some growers, like Cargil Farms in Uvalde, the past year was tough. Last February there was a devastating hail storm, followed by extreme rains in the summer, then freezes in the winter. In late January 2017 came another element: high winds. “It’s been one extreme to another,” comments Steve Cargil.
Others were mostly unscathed by the temperature swings and weather events. Peter Q. Huynh, president of A-A1 Foodservice in Austin, considers the vagaries of Mother Nature as the toughest factor in trying to run a successful produce business. “Weather is the big factor,” he states, adding, “but we’ve been very fortunate.”
Quality Concerns
Temperature swings certainly impact the quality of the product, but also the length of the season. Stachurski finds the “Texas growing season is shorter, and more intense for what’s available.”
Onions, watermelon, and cabbage, which have longer seasons, are more likely to handle the inevitable ups and downs, but more sensitive crops like “blueberries and peaches are heavily affected by rain and cold snaps,” Stachurski says, wreaking havoc with supply and demand by making these “commodities either heavy or nonexistent.”
Although Leadbetter characterized last winter as “pretty mild,” it doesn’t necessarily mean smooth sailing for growers—as weather conditions continue to strike a precarious balance between damaging crops and opening the door to issues with pests and disease.
A case in point is whiteflies. Although incidence has been minor in recent years, the weather dictates the pest’s appearance: when it doesn’t get cold, whiteflies can survive dormancy and return in the spring. If temperatures do get very cold, the situation is again fraught with mixed results. “A couple good frosts eradicate the fly,” Leadbetter relates, but growers have a new headache to deal with—“we have no bugs,” he says, “but frozen watermelon.”
Ups and Downs
Although watermelon remains a popular summer and early fall commodity, another melon has suffered a serious twist of fate. As much as grower-shippers are embracing the influx of fresh produce from Mexico, there are downsides to the flow of trade.
“Twenty years ago, the Texas cantaloupe was the sweetest and best in the world,” comments Leadbetter. “Everyone loved to buy it, but now we don’t even grow them,” he laments. Since 2004, the Lone Star State’s cantaloupe acreage has fallen by 76 percent, shrinking from 7,500 acres to just 1,800 in a four-year period, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s state overview information.
To a lesser degree, watermelon has been affected as well, with grow-ing acreage for the sugary treat down due to rising competition from producers in Nogales, AZ and Western Mexico.
Leadbetter believes Texas’ “window of opportunity is decreasing as the years go by,” with growing conditions and costs playing a role. “Watermelons are extremely expensive to grow, and we can’t hit the economic threshold,” he observes.
Once in a while, though, the stars align for a perfect and early crop. Unfortunately, the goddess of supply and demand remains a harsh task- master. Last year, Majestic experienced every supplier’s dream: having early supply and unfettered access to the market. The downside: volume was too low to take full advantage of the opportunity.
By the time additional harvest volume kicked in, the market was saturated by local and out-of-state competitors and imports. “When Nogales comes on strong,” Leadbetter explains, with lower pricing and tremendous yields, “it’s hard to keep up.”
In response, some South Texas watermelon growers have decreased plantings. Texas used to enjoy a month-long window from mid-March to mid-April as the only watermelon supplier, but this golden opportunity has been absorbed by the burgeoning Mexican market.
“It’s not about rebuilding or rebranding,” Leadbetter observes. “Previous trends will go by the wayside as Mexico increases its volume.”
Steve Bramel, president of Houston-based Bramel Trucking Company, Inc., chimed in with praise for the state’s producers. “Growers probably have the most concerns in the industry. Hats off to growers and farmers, they are the most fearless in this business. So much depends on the weather—they’re the true risk takers. Most of my stuff can be solved by a telephone call, but farmers are the real heroes.”
Hero or not, with both growing and harvest costs less expensive in Mexico and many wholesalers turning southward for supply, some Lone Star State growers are deciding to get out altogether or switch to less labor-intensive crops.
Manifest Mexico: High-Value Trade
Although Texas-Mexico trade encompasses a vast array of goods, such as the successful maquiladora manufacturing programs (where parts or assembly take place in Mexico but products are ultimately sold in the United States), the buying and selling of fresh fruits and vegetables remains very big business.
Perhaps the very basis for this reciprocity comes from the state’s name, derived from a Native American Caddo word, teyshas, which translates to ‘friends’ or ‘allies.’ For Texas, this rising reliance on trade, especially imports, has become critical to keeping up with demand for fresh produce. Although there is certainly reliance on trade, and growing in the state has fallen in some areas, it does not mean there’s a total downward spiral.
It is true a combination of factors, from rising population growth and urban sprawl to the declining interest of younger farmers, continues to impact Lone Star production acreage with some growers shifting operations to Mexico and beyond. The trend, however, is not new—as both U.S. and Canadian suppliers continue to establish growing operations south of the border.
It is difficult to dismiss Mexico’s heightened economic advantages, including less expensive and plentiful labor and a surge in protected agriculture for consistency and quality. Such benefits make partnering with Texas’ southerly neighbor hard to resist.
Leaping Imports
When it comes to imports, volume tells the story. Lone Star State imports have continued to grow a whopping 108 percent over the past eight years, according to figures released by Texas A&M University’s Center for North American Studies.
With the most of any state, Texas has 29 official ports of entry, with a generous sprinkling along the border. These ports are a busy conduit for $4.6 billion in fresh fruit and vegetable shipments from Mexico in 2015, with 2016 expected to be even higher, though the political climate may have an impact.
The explosion in volume is aided by the completion of superhighways and port improvements, which have streamlined the inspection and movement of commodities. “Since roads were put in from Culiacán [in the northwestern state of Sinaloa], the freight savings is huge,” confirms Scott Blanchard, who heads up Latin grower relations at the Tomato Management Corporation in Houston.
Leadbetter agrees; Majestic imports jumbo carrots, lemons, limes, cabbage, and watermelon from Mexico to augment its homegrown supply.
For Gladys Moreno, chief executive officer at Dominguez Fresh Produce, LLC in McAllen, the distributor’s biggest imports include cilantro, jalapeños, sapote, tomatillos, broccoli, and nopales (pads from the prickly pear cactus).
All three importers acknowledge the importance of ongoing trade partnerships with Mexican grower-shippers as essential to their business and growth. This includes NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), which President Donald Trump has vowed to reconfigure in the coming months.
Images: Joel Pacheco, Valleyite12, David Litman, Laura Gunn, Sean Pavone, f11photo, Philip Lange, photo.ua,
Sean Pavone, David Litman/Shuterstock.com
