Jorge Vázquez, president of Houston-based Latin Specialties, Inc., wholeheartedly agrees with García and Erickson. “As a large port of entry into the United States, and thanks to the wide availability of produce, the Valley is an ideal place to load mixed produce trucks, buy shorts and/or shop for deals from multiple importers and growers.”
Growth and Expansion
Although unemployment in the region remains the highest in Texas, job growth has increased with the flow of traffic from south to north and with the flurry of activity in the energy sector.
Some, like Art Salinas, sales manager at Bonanza 2001 in Pharr, say the location is a huge boon for shipping, both in terms of convenience and cost. “People are coming here to take advantage of the shipping. For a $10 box of tomatoes, if your customer is in New York, it will cost you $15 to deliver from Nogales and $13 to deliver from Pharr,” he says. “Because of where we are located, it gives us a freight advantage.”
The Valley’s growth in the past few years has resulted in more line carriers, which Camacho of Traveler Produce credits with bringing down the cost of freight. He also cites an increase in the number of cold storage facilities across the region as a benefit of the recent boom times. Not only has it made the market more competitive, it has also improved the quality of the facilities and extended the shelf life of produce.
In fact, according to Salinas, many cold storage warehouses fill up as quickly as they go up. Another interesting point: rather than renting cold storage, more growers are building their own warehouses, not only for their product but to lease to others in the industry. “There’s a facility here that has three floors, and the first and second floors are already sold out,” Salinas says. “It hasn’t even been built yet.”
Erickson confirms that new packinghouses and cold storage facilities proliferate. “A lot of the companies opening these facilities are Texas-based businesses expanding their operations, but some are Mexico-based companies expanding or opening here for the first time, which will also bring even more business to the area,” he contends, citing the Texas A&M study’s growth projections. Though he believes the numbers may be a bit high, “either way, the growth is going to be significant. We are already seeing the surge.”
It’s this impressive growth that gives the Valley an advantage over similar areas across the country. Richard Ruiz, founder and president of Ruiz Sales in Edinburg, believes that while the Valley has seen major growth, it is still an affordable place to both do business and live—which in turn makes it even more attractive for companies to expand their presence or relocate here.
