By anybody’s definition, Texas is big, occupying more than 268,000 square miles. It takes nearly 14 hours to drive across the state, from Orange in East Texas to El Paso (which is closer to Albuquerque than to any major city in Texas) at the westernmost tip. But turn at San Antonio, head south a few hours, and you’ll find yourself in the Rio Grande Valley, the epicenter of the state’s produce industry.
The Valley, as it’s known, sprawls across a southern stretch of the Lone Star State and is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, comprised of four counties: Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr, and Willacy.
A fruitful partnership
Not surprisingly, Mexico is the biggest exporter of fresh produce to the United States. The demand for fruits and veggies, regardless of seasonality, has soared, and growers south of the border are happy to keep American consumers’ plates piled high.
In 2018 alone, the United States imported about $372 billion worth of goods and products from Mexico. Vegetables, fruits, and nuts accounted for $12 billion of that total, including $2.3 billion worth of tomatoes and $1.7 billion of avocados.
This fruitful partnership and the steady flow of imports have helped position the Valley to meet the infrastructure needs of produce businesses, including cold storage warehouses, wholesalers, distributors, customs brokers, transportation companies, and more. As a result, the Valley is the undisputed produce hub of Texas.
An abundance of markets
Much of the produce coming in from Mexico finds its way to any number of wholesalers at the McAllen Produce Terminal Market—and eventually to points across the United States and Canada.
Also known as the Central de Abastos, it is the only terminal market in the Valley and one of only three in the entire state.
Located on 42 acres just minutes from the state-of-the-art Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, the market is home to about 90 businesses, 80 percent of which specialize in produce. It features nearly 300,000 square feet of warehousing, with individual units ranging in size from 1,400 square feet to 20,000 square feet, and plenty of space to accommodate daily deliveries by more than 200 trucks.
Not all of the produce comes from abroad. Texas itself boasts a robust produce industry that brings in nearly $900 million per year. And the Valley, with its bounty of ranches and fertile fields, is the state’s most reliable domestic grower. Watermelon—Texas is the country’s number-one supplier—and citrus, including the famed Ruby Red grapefruit, oranges, and Meyer lemons, grow in the Valley, as do most of the state’s onions.
While much of that locally grown bounty is often shipped out of state, a significant portion winds up in supermarkets and at farmers’ markets across the region. Indeed, where farmers’ markets were once scarce, these days they’re popping up everywhere. Some are given an official seal of approval by the Texas Department of Agriculture, while others have evolved with the help of local artisans and growers.
What began as a way for farmers and ranchers to make a little extra money has blossomed into a full-blown movement consumers now rely on. In Hidalgo County, for example, there are at least seven different farmers’ markets. And in Brownsville, a shuttered downtown cannery is slated to become the city’s next big thing—the Cannery Public Market. The cost of the project, which involves a massive renovation and will be funded by a variety of grants, is estimated to be just under $1 million.
Once completed, the Cannery Public Market will house the Brownsville Farmers’ Market, the Rio Grande Valley Food Bank, and will also serve as a “kitchen incubator” for small businesses from across the area.
This is multi-part feature adapted from the Rio Grande Valley Supplement in the January/February 2020 issue of Produce Blueprints.
