Learning together, growing together (Mexico)

To dive into the different futures of climate control with Priva we travelled to one of our inspiring growers in Mexico. We met with Felix Tarrats at his greenhouse and had a conversation about horticulture, community and the future of growth. Felix is the founder of Core and the general manager of the CEICKOR University Center, a true hub of knowledge with the mission of training people with integrity to become agents of change within the agricultural sector. Felix believes in the power of sharing knowledge, embracing opportunities and growing a community beyond traditional competition to ultimately provide healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food. Only by learning together, we can grow together.

What motivated you to start Ceickor University, to share knowledge beyond your own grounds? And what makes it such an interesting endeavour for you?

Being an agronomist and having been involved in greenhouses for so many years, I know what works and what doesn't. I know the right techniques and the tools. But the University goes beyond this, it's where we challenge what we know with our students. There we have the capacity to be open to innovation, to new challenges and new ways of producing. That is one of our most interesting pursuits.

We firmly believe in the education of our students as one of the tools to transform the world we live in today. The only way we are going to be able to make a real change is by raising awareness in the new generations. And this comes from the education we are trying to provide.

How do you think Ceickor is part of shaping the future of growing together?

When we started giving the first courses, one of the big questions was whether we were willing to share knowledge. But ever since we have, it has been wonderful. Whenever you share, you get more than what you gave. And because of our sharing we have built great alliances with partners like Priva, like Koppert, companies that have shared this knowledge from the very beginning.

What we do at Ceickor isn't about one or two people. Let me give you an example, for many years now we have a project where multiple companies collaborate together, shaping a real technology transfer centre. One of them is Priva, which was the first company that supported us at Ceickor and was the first alliance for this knowledge sharing concept. 

Ceickor has been the dream of many people and companies together. We want to be the frontrunners of collaboration. We believe, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.

To wrap our conversation up, what do you think is the biggest challenge we will have to face together, and what can we contribute?

his world of greenhouses, where Ceickor is immersed, has been a success. But the great challenge of the future is to make food much more sustainable, much more local, where resources are used very carefully. And I think that a look to the future lies in indoor farming, vertical farming, something we're working on right now. 

Because we are convinced that this is the way forward. Something we tell our students is to continue learning together, towards a future together. We should share much more data, even strategic data with other growers to advance our field.