LAREDO, TEXAS - Local Shipping Container Farm In Final Round of National Competition
LMTonline.com / Laredo Morning Times
April 12, 2023
Laredo’s Palo Blanco Farm and Ranch is part of a national competition hosted by the New Leader’s Council in which the winner takes home prize money and is recognized for their efforts in the industry.
The business owner is asking for people to vote for them to win the NLC's first-ever Capstone Clash, as the final round of voting opened on Tuesday and will close at noon on Thursday, April 13.
Palo Blanco Farm and Ranch co-owner Marcella Juarez created her capstone project by converting a shipping container with the South Texas Food Bank in collaboration with PED Energy for a year-round local and sustainable production of food.
The voting can be done via Instagram where the contest is being conducted by the New Leader’s Council. To vote, locals would need to comment "THE FOREVER FARM" on the final round post of the New Leader's Council page.
Juarez said the $500 prize money would be used to purchase hydroponic equipment needed for food production.
“Your vote is supporting a small, family-owned ranch who are investing in the community to feed the community with local and healthy food that we deserved,” Juarez said. “We are all about food production for the health of our community and for the health of our environment, and this project is key to the future of food production in the area and key to the feeding of Laredo. So when you vote for us, you are supporting a very amazing project, a small family-owned farm, and you are supporting sustainable and local food production here in your community.”
Juarez said that the experience helped her bring the idea to her own business. She has constructed an area in her ranch where she is raising food inside another shipping container along with fellow co-owner and her brother, Manuel Juarez.
The shipping container ranch is equipped with solar panels, hydroponic systems and the ability to develop and sustain ongoing food production for their business. Although the two shipping containers have different designs and will be created to grow different things, some of the main foods that they will create include microgreens, hydroponic strawberries, edible flowers and hydroponic lettuce.
Laredo’s Palo Blanco Farm and Ranch is in the final round of New Leader’s Council Capstone Clash national contest on Instagram. Courtesy / Marcella Juarez
Laredo’s Palo Blanco Farm and Ranch is in the final round of New Leader’s Council Capstone Clash national contest on Instagram. jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Juarez said that at first she did not know if she was going to be able to succeed with using a shipping container to grow produce, as there were some challenges she faced.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started. I was originally invited to collaborate with the South Texas Food Bank and PED Energy, who had an idea to convert a container, but they didn’t know how and that’s what I studied in grad school,” Juarez said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was a good collaboration with two organizations here in Laredo. There have been challenges with bringing something new to Laredo, but things are coming together and the first shipping container out here in Palo Blanco Ranch will be in full operation by the end of April 2023.”
As they prepare for the huge undertaking of making the shipping container a staple of their business, they do hope that the community helps them win the national contest they are part of to bring more money to their efforts as well as recognition and attention for their work.
“We are asking people to vote one more time and help us to win this prize money to help us complete this innovative project and really transform what food production looks like here in Laredo and in the South Texas frontera,” Juarez said.
“I want to say thank you to the community for their continued support as a business and when it comes to this contest, as we would not have made it to the final round if it wasn’t for all the love and support that we have here at home. We love what we do. We do it for Laredo, and I would not like to be doing this anywhere else. So I just want to say thank you so much for the help in making us get to where we are right now, and I just hope to continue to grow food for the community.”
Laredo’s Palo Blanco Farm and Ranch is in the final round of New Leader’s Council Capstone Clash national contest on Instagram.
Lead photo: Courtesy / Marcella Juarez
jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Written By
Jorge A. Vela is a native Laredoan who studied at Laredo College and Texas State earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. After a stint of working for several publications, other local media outlets and managing his own tutoring business for years, Vela decided to get back into journalism by working as a general assignments reporter for the Laredo Morning Times. He loves spending time with la familia, soccer, cooking and jamming out