Val Verde Vegetable Co. Inc., a McAllen, TX-based grower-shipper operation founded more than 25 years ago on land farmed by the Schuster family for 80 years, has returned to an all-Schuster management team.

Frank Schuster Sr. came to the Rio Grande Valley from his native Austria in 1935 and quickly developed a prosperous farming and ranching operation as well as becoming a leader in the Texas produce industry. His son, Frank Schuster Jr., took over the company at the time of his father’s death in 1977 and formed Val Verde Vegetable Co. in 1987.

Abasto Properties LLC, a sister company of Abasto Corp., which has built and operates five wholesale markets in Mexico and South Texas, broke ground Dec. 31, 2013, on the San Antonio Wholesale Produce Market, and expects phase one to open in the spring of 2015.

They do one thing and they do it well. That is the mantra preached by Mike Davis, who is co-owner of Tex-Mex Sales LLC, in Weslaco, TX, with his dad, Marvin Davis.

“We have onions from January through August,” said the younger Davis.

During that time period the company grows its own onions in Mexico, Texas and New Mexico. “We do source some onions in the fall (from August through December) for several of our customers, but they are not our own.”

It is no secret that the Texas citrus industry has been shrinking over the past couple of decades as decreased acreage and consolidation has led to a smaller industry with fewer players.

Even though the produce office of United Supermarkets is almost 800 miles away from the grapefruit groves of South Texas, the citrus is still a local buy for shoppers, and they love it.

Darvel Kirby, director of produce for United Supermarkets, which has 65 stores under five banners, said Texans are very proud of their state and very loyal to the products grown or made there.

“For us ‘locally grown’ is anything that comes from Texas and our customers love it,” he said.

“Our Texas facility is currently in its phase three expansion and scheduled for completion by year’s end,” said Ronnie Cohen, vice president of sales for Vision Import Group, headquartered in River Edge, NJ.

“The addition will give us the space we need to provide our customers with increased just-in-time services,” he continued. “Basically we’ll be doing what we’ve been doing, but with increased efficiencies and added abilities.”