Texas International Produce Association applauds Mexico water agreement

Three Texas grower organizations are lauding a long-awaited water agreement between the U.S and Mexico.

After a prolonged advocacy effort, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has successfully brokered an agreement with Mexico to release long-overdue water from the Rio Grande River. The landmark agreement, rooted in the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty, marks a critical step toward restoring equitable water distribution crucial for agricultural sustainability, according to a news release.

The Texas International Produce Association, the National Onion Association (NOA) and Texas Citrus Mutual worked for months to communicate the situation in which Mexico had been disregarding their duties to share water with the U.S., according to the release. 

The 1944 treaty mandated the release of 1.75 million acre-feet of water from the Rio Grande in five-year cycles to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. releasing 1.5 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River to Mexico. The U.S. had been faithful in its releases, but this year stopped, citing the inequities created by Mexico’s failure to adhere to the treaty, according to the release.

The increased agricultural output has severely affected American onion growers, as they contended in recent years with the surge of imported onions from Mexico, produced at lower production, labor and transportation costs than the American growers, according to the release.

“This achievement would not have been possible without the coordinated efforts of the National Onion Association, the Texas International Produce Association, and Texas Citrus Mutual. Together, we worked diligently to ensure the federal government understood the urgent water deficiencies impacting our growers,” Greg Yielding, NOA’s executive vice president and chief executive, said in the release.

The USDA reports there is still work to be done. The new agreement solidified a plan for immediate and short-term water relief to meet the needs of Texas farmers and ranchers for this growing season. It includes water releases and continued commitments through October. Further collaboration with Mexico will be necessary, according to the release.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller announced workshops to assist agriculture producers with 1944 water treaty grant applications.