After years of watching the Rio Grande Valley wither while our fields dried up and our ranchers struggled, Texas farmers are finally getting a measure of justice. The Federal Government has managed to secure water deliveries from Mexico as part of the 1944 Water Treaty, addressing years of chronic noncompliance that has devastated our agricultural communities.
On April 28th, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced an agreement with Mexico that will transfer water from international reservoirs and increase the U.S. share of flow from six Rio Grande tributaries. This agreement aims to ensure water for Texas producers through October 2025, when the current five-year cycle of the treaty is set to conclude.
The timing couldn’t be more critical. Texas farmers, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley, have faced significant economic losses, estimated at nearly $1 billion in 2023 alone. These losses led to the closure of the last sugar mill in 2024, a powerful symbol of how water shortages are destroying our agricultural heritage.
To be clear, Texans are not opposed to sharing water resources. What Texans take exception to is the Federal Government’s approach to enforcing treaty obligations and its lack of commitment to securing our water rights. For years, Mexico has fallen behind on its treaty obligation to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. over each five-year cycle, averaging 350,000 acre-feet annually.
President Trump applied significant pressure to secure this agreement, threatening tariffs and sanctions if Mexico continued to withhold water from Texas farmers. The Mexican government, under President Claudia Sheinbaum, finally yielded after weeks of negotiations involving Secretary Rollins and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
While this agreement brings immediate relief, it’s worth examining the pattern of these water disputes. For decades, Texans have been at the mercy of both a foreign government and our own Federal masters in Washington. Between 1999 and 2004, water levels in key reservoirs like Amistad and Falcon rarely exceeded 30% capacity. By the 2020s, levels had dropped by 80-95%, crippling our agricultural production.
The Federal Government has been wildly inconsistent with its enforcement of the treaty and indecisive with its water policy. This latest agreement, while welcome, is merely a stopgap that fails to address the fundamental problem: Texans’ access to water should not be dependent on the whims of negotiators in Mexico City or bureaucrats in Washington.
The agreement includes provisions for immediate transfers and additional monthly deliveries, with both Mexico and the Federal Government committing to regular consultations on future deliveries. They have also agreed to develop a plan for the next treaty cycle, although, given the history of noncompliance, Texans would be right to remain skeptical.
For now, our farmers can irrigate their crops, and our ranchers can water their herds. But make no mistake, this represents only temporary relief in a long-standing problem that continues to threaten the livelihood of Texans who work the land.
The Federal Government did extract a $280 million grant agreement between USDA and the Texas Department of Agriculture back in March, aimed at supporting Rio Grande Valley producers amid these water shortages. But these financial band-aids do nothing to address the root cause of the problem: our reliance on foreign governments to honor treaty obligations that directly impact our sovereignty and economic independence.
No matter what form it takes, the consensus is that Texas is a nation. We were a nation before we joined the Union, and we have national interests that deserve to be defended and respected. Water sovereignty is one of those fundamental interests. Whether as part of the United States or as an independent republic, Texas must secure reliable access to water resources for our farmers, ranchers, and communities.
For now, we can acknowledge this small victory while recognizing that the long-term solution to Texas’ water security will not come from Washington negotiations. It will come when Texans themselves take control of their water destiny.
