HARLINGEN — Across sprawling gardens, leafy greens sprout from long, deep rows of crops.
Nearby, walking trails lined with potted plants lead to an old greenhouse.
Diana Garcia Padilla has big plans.
It’s all about opening the Rio Grande Valley’s first certified organic farmer’s market.
On part of her 35-acre farm, she wants to turn a renovated farm house into her headquarters made up of a store, a commercial kitchen and classroom.
After a four-year struggle, on Feb. 2 the city’s expected to allow her to sell produce from her farm which happens to be zoned in a residential, single family district.
“I want to show everyone how wonderful a place it’s going to be,” Garcia Padilla said yesterday after a tour of her farm off Morris Road off of Rangerville Road on the city’s south side.
From her store, she plans to sell produce grown in her five-acre garden certified through Wisconsin-based Nature’s International Certification Services.
“This is a community project,” said Garcia Padilla, also a member of Harlingen’s Mayor’s Wellness Council.
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The USDA states that the goal of organic foods and organic farming is to “integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.”
The term “organic” refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. In the U.S., organic crops must be grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes, petroleum-based fertilizers and sewage sludge-based fertilizers.
– Contain fewer pesticides
– Often fresher
– Farming better for the environment
– Raised animals are not given antibiotics, growth hormones or are fed animal byproducts
– Meat and milk are richer in certain nutrients
– GMO free
