In South Texas, one woman is leading an agricultural renaissance [Video]

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.

HARLINGEN — Countless chain restaurants and retail stores line Interstate Highway 69 here. Were it not for the palm trees, the stretch of highway could be indistinguishable from any other part of Texas.

The Rio Grande Valley, like many regions throughout Texas, continues to invite economic development prompted by population growth, placing pressure on privately owned farms and ranches to convert their land for other purposes.

But just a little more than a mile south of the highway, one farmer hopes to enable and encourage more residents to cultivate the land’s natural resources.

Diana Padilla is the executive director of Holistic Organic Practical Education, or HOPE, for Small Farm Sustainability, a nonprofit that provides farmer-to-farmer assistance.

Through the center, Padilla provides training and technical assistance for small, …