Shorter wait times. Fresher produce. That’s what experts are hoping will come out of a new grant designed to ensure more agricultural product inspectors are available along the southern border of Texas.
According to The Monitor, officials from the Rio Grande Valley met this week after two years of planning to discuss a $652,000 grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture that was approved by the legislature in 2014.
The legislation calls for the creation of a Trade Agriculture Inspections Grant Program, which lawmakers are hoping will increase ag inspections along the border and decrease the amount of time commercial traffic has to wait to be inspected.
The longer products sit at the border waiting for inspection, the greater the drop in product quality.
The South Texas Assets Consortium, a nonprofit group, will manage the grant funding.
Officials are hoping the grant will address a shortage of inspectors at border crossings at night and on the weekends by either hiring additional ag inspectors or paying overtime for existing inspectors.
The bill that called for the creation of the grant program will be effective from Sept. 1, 2015 to Jan. 15, 2017.