The drug violence in Mexico has a new potential victim: the potent agricultural sector in that country and its multi-billion-dollar ties to consumers, farmers and ranchers in the United States. So far, two South Texas produce companies have changed the way they conduct business there. While officials agreed that the U.S.'s booming agricultural trade with Mexico was not facing significant risks from drug cartels now, they were less certain it could stand up to several more years of drug-related challenges. 'It's in the back of (everyone's) mind,' said Curtis DeBerry, who owns Progreso Produce in Boerne, Texas. 'It has the potential to be a problem.' Progreso already is transporting commodities grown on Mexico's gulf coast and in central Mexico in multi-truck convoys, from Ciudad Victoria in Tamaulipas state to Texas about 300 miles to the north. The border region is the riskiest area in Mexico, and drivers need the added security, DeBerry said. Drivers for Edinburg, Texas-based Frontera Produce, meanwhile, stay off the most isolated roads and try not to travel at night while bringing fruits and vegetables to Texas. It has onion growers in the Tampico area, raises pineapples further south around the state of Veracruz and produces other crops throughout Mexico. 'It's not good to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,' said Chris Eddy, Frontera's sales director. Still, he and DeBerry said the violence has not convinced the companies to trim Mexican operations this year, and they don't expect other Mexican growers to behave much differently. 'There is a security issue along the border, but it has not affected agricultural shipments across the border,' said DeBerry. At least, no one can say definitively that it has. Extortion demands by the cartel for safe transfer of agricultural commodities are widely rumored in Mexico but difficult to confirm. Shipments reportedly have been stolen and drivers harassed, though some speculate that drug cartels may not be as responsible for that violence as other criminals hiding behind the drug-related turmoil. Still, random violence has increased in isolated areas of the country, raising the professional and personal risks of farmers and the chances they may flee to safer environments. Juan Anciso, a vegetable specialist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Weslaco, said that Mexican growers with the money are beginning to move on. 'People are being driven away from that sector,' he said. 'It's too risky in Mexico.' The financial implications of a longer drug war are significant. Mexico is the United States' second-largest agricultural trading partner, with bilateral trade topping $20 billion a year. Mexican exports nearly $6 billion of fresh fruits and vegetables a year into the U.S., and Texas is one of its key ports of entry, said John McClung, president of the Texas Produce Association. Avocados, melons, limes, strawberries, tomatoes, onions and peppers are among the biggest imports. McClung said Mexican growers are responsible for about 60 percent of the fresh fruit and vegetables that are consumed in and shipped from Texas. McClung discounts the idea that farmers are getting out of Mexico. He does not doubt some Mexican growers are shopping for land in the U.S., but he said the higher cost of production here, limited water availability and other issues could make the move unwise. McClung knew one farmer with operations in the United States and Mexico who studied shifting more production into the U.S. but could not make the numbers work. Virtually all of the fruits and vegetables in South Texas need irrigation, and water can be difficult to find. Weather extremes in Texas also limit what can be produced here, officials said. Mexican violence is 'driving some people crazy, but it's not driving them away,' said McClung. An official in the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City's Agricultural Trade Office cited a recent report showing that while truckers are taking more precautions, exports from Mexico to the U.S. have not slumped. Eric Rojo, a security analyst and a member of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, said the problems Mexico is facing from drug cartels have been exaggerated. While a small number of residents have been victimized by crime, most Mexicans lead normal lives, untouched by the cartels, he said. Asked if he thought the country's agricultural sector was being targeted by drug lords, Rojo said, 'I'd have to be very skeptical.' But Bruce Frasier, president of Dixondale Farms near Carrizo Springs, Texas, has heard enough reports about extortion demands and other problems in Mexico to be concerned. Dixondale sells young onion plants to onion growers across the country, in Mexico and Canada. As a result of the violence, however, Frasier no longer travels to Mexico like he did before. 'It's too dangerous,' he said. 