Hidalgo County FSA staff (front row): Gracie Pena, Maricruz Cantu, Socorro Rodriguez, Cris Longoria, (back row): Terry Wolfe, Arnulfo Lerma, Mari Hernandez, Franco Trevino, Debbie Burns, Mary Cantu, Marty Garcia, Bee Perez.
The Hidalgo County Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in Edinburg, Texas, opened its doors around 1939. The office houses a farm program and farm loan team as well as Benny Cano, district director and is co-located with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Rural Development (RD). Franco Trevino, county executive director and Arnulfo Lerma, farm loan manager oversee a staff of 10 employees.
Situated along the Texas-Mexico border, Hidalgo County FSA serves approximately 3,000 producers who are involved in a variety of agricultural operations. The culture and demographics of Hidalgo County are as diversified as the agricultural industry. The county is primarily row crop with the most common commodities being cotton, grain sorghum and corn. Other crops include sugarcane, fruits, vegetables and specialized citrus fruits that are only grown in the Rio Grande Valley — home of the famous Texas Ruby Red grapefruit.
Trevino and Lerma agree that the farm loan and farm program teams work well together and are successful because they support each other; if one of the teams gets in a bind, the other team pitches in to help.
"I believe the most important element for a successful county office is time management," said Trevino. "With the sheer volume of producers and variety of crops grown in our county, it seems like year-round there is either something going into the ground or coming out of the ground. A lot of this can overlap, so I think time management helps us take better care of our producers."
Because of the overlapping planting and harvesting seasons, the farm loan team does not have a distinct loan making and loan servicing season. They are constantly accepting new applications while maintaining their existing loan portfolio. The large volume of work can be overwhelming, so the Hidalgo county office managers like to keep work fun.
"The farm loan team has ‘Taco Friday’ where I bring in breakfast tacos for my staff and we eat together," said Lerma.
Trevino points out that work is also fun because many of the employees have worked or lived in the county long enough to get to know the producers. The average length of service among the staff is 20 years.
"We aren't dealing with strangers, we are dealing with people we know," he said.
The Hidalgo County office is also proud that leaders involved in agriculture such as Congressman Kika de La Garza and Juan M. Garcia, deputy administrator for farm programs (DAFP – FSA) call the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, "home.”
