The footprint of the Rio Grande Valley’s citrus industry has largely retreated to the northern reaches of Hidalgo County from what once was a regional reach of over 100,000 acres.

The RGV citrus industry of today counts about 25,000 acres of grapefruits and oranges. The turning points for an industry that historically defined the region’s early agricultural history were the freezes of 1983 and 1989. The damage from those weather events was extensive and growers – both local and absentee – decided it was time to sell their valuable properties.

“With citrus, it takes five years before you start getting a return (after planting young trees),” said Dale Murden, the president of Texas Citrus Mutual. “They couldn’t pencil out growing a crop so they took the option to sell to developers.”

It would usher in the urbanization of the Valley continuing today. The spaces where orchards once stood within city limits in RGV communities are now neighborhoods and subdivisions. Even in its diminished state, the citrus industry remains an important one in the region. Murden notes that citrus in the Valley generates an economic impact of almost $500 million in the region. The industry’s grapefruits with their vibrant red colors and sweet juicy flesh are still much sought after produce items in national and international markets.

“The inside quality is the best in the world,” Murden said of RGV grapefruits.

Citrus endures in the Valley even as new crops are growing and developing to supplement its historic role in RGV agriculture.

‘Trial And Error’

Matt Klostermann hopes soybeans can one day grow commercially in the Valley.

He is the president of Rio Farms in Monte Alto. The concept of Rio Farms began in the 1930s as a nonprofit corporation to aid and support underprivileged farmers during the Great Depression. It serves today as a private research foundation and works in conjunction with the Texas A&M Research Center and agricultural interests in the private sector. Rio Farms has 27 tenant farmers per information on its website and farms almost 100 acres of land in the Valley.

Part of its mission is to test new crops such as sesame, soybeans and grapes as well as testing newer varieties of mainstay RGV crops. 

“It’s trial and error,” Klostermann said of trying new crops and varieties. “With soybeans, we’re working on finding a variety that will grow here with the kind of weather and conditions we have in the Valley.”

An Evolving Industry

Rio Farms played an instrumental role in establishing sugar cane as a RGV crop. For a roughly 50-year era – from 1974 to 2024 – sugar cane was grown in the Valley with its mill in Santa Rosa. The lack of a consistent and adequate water source was cited as the primary reason for its closure last year. Klostermann says Rio Farms is leading efforts in “actively looking for a replacement for sugar cane.”

Sesame plants are one of those replacement crop possibilities It is becoming more visible in area farm fields. Sesame plants can reach heights of up to four feet. Its whole seeds are used in baking and food toppings while its oil is utilized for cooking and salad dressings.

Murden and Klostermann each cited sesame as a crop seeing commercial success in the Valley. Corn is also an emerging crop with more acreage of it growing every year as newer varieties take hold, Klostermann said.

“Corn is one of those crops that has come a long way,” he said.

‘Drive Out To Find It’

Even with all of the urbanization throughout the Valley, there is still well over one million acres of farmland in the region.

It’s broken up into irrigated farmland for citrus and vegetables and the drier land farming of corn, grain sorghum and cotton. The majority of RGV farming is the latter as water has become harder to get with low reservoir levels at Falcon and Amistad lakes. There is also a significant volume of water that Mexico owes the United States as part of a longstanding treaty governing how the two nations share management of the Rio Grande.

Agriculture may no longer be the RGV’s main economic calling card but the grapefruits, onions, cabbages and carrots the region still grows to go with cotton and grains means the Valley is still a major ag producer.

“We’re not the palm trees-lined roads and citrus groves kind of tropical paradise we used to be,” Murden said. “The Valley is now more of a metroplex.”

Of the farm fields this region is known for, he says, “It’s still out there. Now you have to drive out to find it.”