December 7, 1995
Editor’s note: The article has been edited for length.
FORT DAVIS — Jeff Davis County Judge “Peggy” Robertson is hoping that a town hall meeting Tuesday night will help settle some of the dust surrounding the proposed tomato farm. She’s invited company officials, elected officials and economic development representatives to meet with the public and see if rumors can be replaced by fact. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the district courtroom at the Jeff Davis County Courthouse in Fort Davis.
Agro-Power Development Co. of East Brunswick, N.J., plans to build a 46-acre, state-of-the-art tomato farm on land just south of Fort Davis on the flat west of Texas 17 and south of FM 166. The facility would employ up to 120 people with an additional 180 seasonal employees during harvest.
The company estimates it will grow 18 million pounds of tomatoes annually, using eight million gallons of water a year. It is estimated that eight tractor-trailer rigs per day would be needed to haul the produce to market during harvest. Robertson said some Jeff Davis County residents and ranchers are concerned that the farm will deplete the underground water supply and adversely affect ranch water wells and the city’s water supply.
Residents also are concerned that crime will increase in Fort Davis if the facility employs Mexican farm laborers, she added. But Steve Teaff, agribusiness development specialist for West Texas Utilities Co., said from Abilene this week that there’s more than enough water to sustain the farm and not impact the Fort Davis water supply. And the company won’t hire illegal farm laborers, Teaff said. “We’ve already visited with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.” Teaff said water tests are positive and indicate no negative impact on water for the region. He added that the water study is continuing. Agro-Power doesn’t want an operation that will cause damage to the environment, Teaff said.
Rumors that the farm will use 90 million gallons a year just aren’t true, he said. The farm’s planned use of eight million gallons of water a year will be achieved in part by recycling about one-third of the water it uses, Teaff said. Plans call to build two 23-acre greenhouses and a 60,000- square-foot packing house. The tomato plants will be grown hydroponically, that is, indoors, using a drip-irrigation system, the most-conservative of irrigation systems. “The operation has a weather station tied to a computer that controls the environment in the greenhouses,” Teaff said. “The computer knows every drop of water each plant gets. It’s all computer controlled.” Agro-Power has been in business in the United States for five years. It has two farms; one in Ringold, Penn., and the other in Buffalo, N.Y. Teaff said he visited those farms and “those facilities are beautiful, with all the glass.” If the company decides to locate near Fort Davis, construction would begin in early 1996, with tomato production beginning in the summer of 19%. The construction phase will create about 80 jobs, most hired locally except for about 30 greenhouse specialists. Teaff said the 120 persons who would be employed at the farm would receive “above average wages and full benefits.” Positions would include management, clerical, facility maintenance, plant growing specialists.
A source said that the Fort Davis business community is quietly supporting the project because it has the potential to increase retail sales. “The owners feel a little disappointed at some of the negative opinions expressed in the paper,” Teaff said. “But I’ve worked with them for three months and they will be good area citizens.” Most of letter writers in the Jeff Davis County Mountain Dispatch newspaper have been opposed to the project.