In the drought-scarred landscapes of Texas, a plant long dismissed as a nuisance is being reconsidered as a quiet answer to some of agriculture's most pressing questions. Researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife are working to transform prickly pear cactus into biofuel and functional food ingredients — not because it is easy, but because the plant thrives precisely where the future is headed: dry land, scarce water, and a climate that rewards resilience. The effort is less about a single discovery than about building the connective tissue between science and commerce, between growers and grocers, bef