In the latest episode of The Building Texas Show, titled "This Texas Border City Is Trading Farmland for Factories," host Justin McKenzie explores the transformation of Socorro, Texas, a small border city east of El Paso. Mayor Rudy Cruz discusses why families are selling their irrigated farmland to developers, how the city is establishing a foreign trade zone, and how Socorro is rebuilding its economy without erasing its history.
The episode, published July 13, 2026, highlights the pressures reshaping Socorro. Cruz explains that generations of farmland are being sold due to salty irrigation water, reduced water allocations, and extreme summer heat. "It's sad to see the farmland going away... the water isn't what it used to be. There's a lot of salt here and the salt kills off a lot of those plants," Cruz tells McKenzie. These factors are pushing younger generations away from agriculture into commercial and industrial deals.
Socorro's new foreign trade zone is attracting manufacturing and logistics tenants that facilitate cross-border trade with Mexico. The partnership between Socorro and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, one of only three federally recognized tribes in Texas, is a key component of this economic shift. Cruz, who previously worked as a small business development specialist for the tribe, describes building incubators on the former Braceros Farm site to help local entrepreneurs grow past rent, payroll, and insurance costs before entering the wider market. He also credits the tribe with securing federal highway dollars to rehabilitate an irrigation bridge the city could not have funded alone.
Education and workforce development are also part of the strategy. Socorro ISD's 6A programs allow students to leave high school with associate's degrees and barber licenses, while Fort Bliss has expressed interest in busing students in. On the Mission Trail, a nine-mile corridor linking three missions, homes have been converted into restaurants, bistros, and breweries pouring pecan and pomegranate beer, preserving 300 to 400 years of foodways.
Cruz speaks plainly about the tradeoffs. On the shrinking fields, he acknowledges the loss but emphasizes the new opportunities. On the pitch to visitors, he offers a fuller picture: "You want to see a building that was built by people with their own hands 400 years ago? Come down here and visit it. It's an adobe structure built with these natural elements of wood and mud, but at the same time, it tells a story of the people that still reside here."
The episode is available now wherever podcasts are heard.
