Business

Economic toll in Texas worsens as trucks remain stopped at Mexico border

Gov. Greg Abbott has kept many of his new inspection policies in place despite pleas from businesses for relief

By Laura Reiley and Kevin Sieff
Yesterday at 12:35 p.m. EDT | Updated yesterday at 10:17 p.m. EDT

Economic fallout worsened Thursday even as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) moved incrementally to roll back new inspection rules for commercial trucks entering from Mexico, with some companies saying they aren’t able to fulfill orders because trucks are stuck in multi-mile backups at a number of entry points.

Little Bear Produce is a Texas-based grower-packer-shipper, farming 6,000 acres in Texas and supplementing its inventory with Mexican-grown produce so it can be a year-round supplier to major grocery chains such as Wegmans, H-E-B, Publix, Albertsons and Kroger.

Bret Erickson, senior vice president of business affairs for Little Bear, says the added inspections have cost it “hundreds of thousands of dollars” already, not to mention the reduced paychecks for many loaders who have had no work as trucks fail to show up.

[White House, truckers blast Texas as inspections snarl Mexico traffic]

“This has directly impacted our business since late last week. We would typically be receiving 10 to 12 loads of watermelon per day from Mexico, as well as different kinds of herbs and greens. Since the middle of last week, we have received zero of those shipments of watermelon,” Erickson said. That means the company did not meet its business obligations with major retailers, which have in turn had to find Mexican melons from farther away, such as from Arizona. Added distance means added fuel costs.

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Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.

By Laura Reiley
Laura Reiley is the business of food reporter. She was previously a food critic at the Tampa Bay Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Baltimore Sun. She has authored four books, has cooked professionally and is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy. She is a two-time James Beard finalist and in 2017 was a Pulitzer finalist. Twitter https://twitter.com/lreiley

By Kevin Sieff
Kevin Sieff has been The Washington Post’s Latin America correspondent since 2018. He served previously as the paper's Africa bureau chief and Afghanistan bureau chief. Twitter https://twitter.com/ksieff