A decade ago, the Rio Grande Valley was rarely a hot topic of discussion for produce dealers. Today, the region is a hotbed of activity, with truckloads of fresh produce arriving from Mexico each day. Join us as we find out what’s heating up the southern tip of Texas.
Location, Location, Location
The Rio Grande Valley, about the size of Connecticut, stretches along the southernmost edge of the Lone Star State. The area, known simply as El Valle or The Valley by residents, is cradled on its southern borders by the Rio Grande River and Mexico.
This buzzing multicultural and bilingual hub is comprised of four counties: Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy, and Cameron, where populations average 90 percent Hispanic. The locale’s current population is 3 million, which is projected to climb to 7 million by 2040.
The Valley’s notoriously hot weather has also given it the nickname, ‘the Texas Tropics,’ but stepping outside isn’t the only hot here—the produce market is on fire, making history with its dramatically increasing perishable imports from Mexico.
Pedro Camacho, owner of Traveler Produce and its storage services arm, Eagle Cold Storage in McAllen, believes the advantages to doing business in the Valley don’t stop there.
In addition to its proximity to Mexico and obvious freight savings, suppliers are also close to several major metropolitan areas within the Lone Star State. “We have big cities near the Rio Grande Valley such as San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas,” he notes, and these regions are “attractive markets that consume a higher percentage of Mexican produce.”
More, More, More
Everyone hailing from the Rio Grande Valley’s produce industry extol its geographic layout as a powerful lure to doing business there.
“We have a unique logistical advantage here in South Texas over our competitors in other areas,” insists Michael DeBerry who works in sales for Villita Avocados in Pharr. “There is no place in the country that we can’t deliver to in two to three days’ time,” he says. Further, he notes, “our freight rates are much cheaper due to the number of trucks that are unloading in Laredo every day.”
Not only is the benefit one of locale, but of convenience as well. “The shipping point, which gets us closer to the Midwest and Northeast, is an advantage held by the customer,” explains Art Salinas, director of operations for Bonanza 2001 in Pharr. Not only do customers “pay less freight and receive items a day-and-a-half sooner,” he explains, but it helps area businesses too, often drawing customers to “look here a little more than out West because it’s convenient.”
A decade ago, the Rio Grande Valley was rarely a hot topic of discussion for produce dealers. Today, the region is a hotbed of activity, with truckloads of fresh produce arriving from Mexico each day. Join us as we find out what’s heating up the southern tip of Texas.
Location, Location, Location
The Rio Grande Valley, about the size of Connecticut, stretches along the southernmost edge of the Lone Star State. The area, known simply as El Valle or The Valley by residents, is cradled on its southern borders by the Rio Grande River and Mexico.
This buzzing multicultural and bilingual hub is comprised of four counties: Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy, and Cameron, where populations average 90 percent Hispanic. The locale’s current population is 3 million, which is projected to climb to 7 million by 2040.
The Valley’s notoriously hot weather has also given it the nickname, ‘the Texas Tropics,’ but stepping outside isn’t the only hot here—the produce market is on fire, making history with its dramatically increasing perishable imports from Mexico.
Pedro Camacho, owner of Traveler Produce and its storage services arm, Eagle Cold Storage in McAllen, believes the advantages to doing business in the Valley don’t stop there.
In addition to its proximity to Mexico and obvious freight savings, suppliers are also close to several major metropolitan areas within the Lone Star State. “We have big cities near the Rio Grande Valley such as San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas,” he notes, and these regions are “attractive markets that consume a higher percentage of Mexican produce.”
More, More, More
Everyone hailing from the Rio Grande Valley’s produce industry extol its geographic layout as a powerful lure to doing business there.
“We have a unique logistical advantage here in South Texas over our competitors in other areas,” insists Michael DeBerry who works in sales for Villita Avocados in Pharr. “There is no place in the country that we can’t deliver to in two to three days’ time,” he says. Further, he notes, “our freight rates are much cheaper due to the number of trucks that are unloading in Laredo every day.”
Not only is the benefit one of locale, but of convenience as well. “The shipping point, which gets us closer to the Midwest and Northeast, is an advantage held by the customer,” explains Art Salinas, director of operations for Bonanza 2001 in Pharr. Not only do customers “pay less freight and receive items a day-and-a-half sooner,” he explains, but it helps area businesses too, often drawing customers to “look here a little more than out West because it’s convenient.”
Yasmani Garcia, in sales for Sweet Seasons, LLC in Hidalgo, agrees that the geographic proximity to the border is a huge asset for bringing in produce from Mexico. And, according to Richard Ruiz, president and CEO of Ruiz Sales in Edinburg, the completion of the superhighway is a major highlight for the region, as it has increased the availability of produce coming into Texas from various parts of Mexico.
Ruiz also sees the region continuing to expand due to the lowest cost of living in Texas, “which means that goods and services are much cheaper here than in the rest of Texas, and many areas of the United States,” he says.
Additionally, buying and selling in The Valley has been made easier by the area’s pro-business government, which has welcomed the proliferation of fresh produce growers, shippers, and distributors with both assistance and incentives to move or open new operations there.
Origin and Destination
With the completion of the superhighway or supervía, transecting Mexico from its Pacific coast to Texas’ lower belly, the Rio Grande Valley continues to grow as a major conduit for fresh produce from Mexico and beyond.
Some have described the road as an inland Panama Canal because of its coast-to-coast extension. Commodities bound for many East Coast suppliers can be routed through the southern point of Texas to save shippers both time and money.
Its impact can be felt throughout the Valley and state. Camacho says the highway has been increasing movement incrementally, and has certainly brought more competition—including companies from Nogales opening offices in the region, but it’s all good for the industry. “There’s always going to be a great opportunity to do business,” asserts Camacho. “There’s room for more produce, more companies, more trucks, more orders, etc.”
A Bridge too Pharr
The Pharr Bridge and its facilities continue to expand, working to keep pace with rising traffic and rapidly increasing imports.
Luis Bazan, industrial development manager for the Pharr International Bridge, says the port of entry has been a major contributor to the area’s designation as a “mecca of distribution” with a growing percentage of perishable imports from Mexico passing through the bridge.
“We continue to be at the forefront of what’s happening in the market,” Bazan says, along with a sharpened focus on “where we are now and where we are going. It’s all about origin and destination.”
New Lanes and Cold Storage Space
The bridge’s five-year master plan, which is being enacted through 2020, includes a host of improvements, inside and out. To keep traffic moving, two additional commercial northbound entry lanes and booths and two more northbound exit lanes and booths are being built to allow for more capacity inside the port.
The dock area is expanding too, planning to add space for 60 more trucks, increasing the cold storage inspections space by 1,000 to 3,000 square feet. With the new space comes a need for more personnel; fortunately, a new program with the City of Pharr will allow the municipality to invest in more overtime pay for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers during peak traffic hours and holidays, so they’re able to streamline the arrival of commodities and increase the flow of vehicles through the port.
New Training Facility and Lab
Perhaps the bigger news is construction of a state-of-the-art agricultural training facility and laboratory for entomologists. Bazan says the new high-tech facility will have all the “bells, whistles, and latest gadgets.”
The hiring of the bridge’s first entomologist back in 2014 was a monumental step. Being able to conduct inspections and routine testing on-site, instead of having to ship items elsewhere for analysis, not only prolonged valuable shelf life for perishables but significantly reduced truck downtime during the clearance and border crossing process.
With newly approved overtime funding for the facility’s agricultural specialists, the process will become even less cumbersome for truckers carrying fresh produce. All of these improvements will assure the bridge and its inspection facilities have the capacity to both keep the cold chain intact and move the rising flow of product into the United States. This is imperative if recent predictions hold true, that imports from Mexico and other countries are expected to climb by 50 percent in the next three to five years.
Bazan explains that his top goal is to reduce border wait times to an hour or less. The bottom line, he states, is getting trucks “off the bridge system and on their way to their final destination faster.”
Improvements on the Mexico Side
There are also ongoing talks with Mexico through a bilateral and national planning group to revamp its side of the border crossing. Among the goals are to separate incoming commercial and noncommercial vehicles for faster clearance, and to modernize Mexico’s customs operations.
“At the end of the day, we just want to increase capacity, streamline, and increase commerce,” states Bazan. “But if Mexico is not investing and lining up projects with ours, then our work is meaningless and we’re not doing enough.”
For the City of Pharr it’s about augmenting the services and facilities of the port of entry—now over 20 years old—and finding ways to mutually work with Mexico to further expand the potential of the bridge. “It’s about partnership, mutual respect, and reciprocity,” explains Bazan. “If we’re not joined at the hip with our partners, feds, and locals, we’re not doing our jobs.”
Industry Support and Praise
For those working in the perishables industry, the bridge is a major asset and source of pride. Moreno confirms the bridge has had a big impact on produce, “giving us more flexible access to drivers and different options for routes.”
Salinas touts the convenience: “One-stop shopping has helped offer variety, giving the ability to do partial loads with mixers. You can get a half-load of tomatoes with something else.” This was also helped along by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which certified more growing regions in Mexico as eligible to export to the United States.
For many of these newly certified states in Mexico, the bridge has opened access to American suppliers, offering opportunity where there was little before. It also gives U.S. suppliers on the other side of the border a wider product range and more steady supply. “It’s helping some [growers] who could not reach out as far in miles to get here,” Salinas says.
DeBerry agrees. “The USDA finally agreed to certify all of Mexico as growing areas available to market fruit into the United States.” Previously, he notes, “only the state of Michoacán was certified to market avocados into the USA.” This new development could bring Jalisco to the market as soon as June 2017. Other growing regions await certification and do not have access to the United States, but still export to Canadian, Asian, and European markets.
Ruiz sums it up this way: the Pharr Bridge “has turned the Rio Grande Valley from an area of importance to an area of critical importance.” He believes the continuing expansion of the bridge has nourished the city of Pharr with investments, an influx of commerce, and is an overall blessing to the region. The bridge, he notes, “makes getting things into the United States from Mexico cheaper, and encourages a lot of new produce businesses in this area—which helps increase economic health and in turn attracts more workers, citizens, and businesses.”
Images: Foodpictures, Karin Hildebrand Lau, 3RUS, Artgraphixel/Shuterstock.com
