Ceickor University was founded in 2014, with a clear mission:
The training of young people of integrity, who will introduce the necessary changes to make Mexican farming sustainable.
A group of experienced agricultural producers and advisers recognized a clear need to train young people in order to further the professionalization of ‘covered cultivation’ in Mexico. They set up Ceickor University.
Ceickor provides a wide range of courses in protected agriculture, a term that mainly refers to growing under glass. Ceickor created a scholarship program. All students could receive a scholarship.
Groups of students, a maximum of fifteen in size, live and work together on the Ceickor campus. They spend 70% of their time on practical education in state-of-the-art greenhouses. Since they live together as residential students, they not only learn about agricultural techniques but acquire skills such as creative and targeted thinking, self-reflection and collaboration, as well as advancing their organizational abilities and personal development.
A day on campus
We were guests for a day on the campus of Ceickor University in Los Benitos, 100km from Queretaro in central Mexico. We reported to the espresso bar on campus, which looks out on high-tech greenhouses. We were welcomed by Felix Tarrats, who gave us a guided tour and later that afternoon informed us about how this wonderful initiative began and how it has developed. Before we were able to take a look inside the greenhouses, where a group of students was receiving practical teaching, we had to put on protective suits, gloves, plastic slippers and hairnets. The temperature in the greenhouses is extreme, but the tomatoes love it and the students didn’t seem troubled by the heat.
We saw a group of young people eager to learn and experience. What struck us most of all was their infectious enthusiasm. Here a new generation of growers is being educated in a way that is truly sustainable.
Andrea Lisseth Ortega Bastidas
I want to create new ways to promote the development of agronomy with the help of technology which improves every day Since we have to look for new options to continue producing nourishment more sustainable and better every day.
My dream is to help all the people who don't have enough to eat, finish my degree and be able to work to help my parents so my siblings can study a career.
Fernando Vega Aguilar
My dream in life is to make a company in which we can produce quality, nutritious and environmentally friendly food.
Víctor Hugo Hernández Romero
My dream is to help people see their true potential by managing agriculture and mixing human quality with productive quality, especially in protected agriculture, to continue to put Mexico as a benchmark for hard work for the commonwealth.
Santiago Urbiola Jimenez
My dream is to gain production experience around the world, and to live a happy life doing what I am passionate about.
Ana Xiomara Ojeda Preciado
I want to work somewhere where I can fulfil my desire of contributing to society´s needs; Working in this sector means to me that while I get to participate in the process behind food getting to the market and someone like me buying it.
Ana Valeria García Rodríguez
My dream is to be a successful engineer in protected agriculture so that one day I am able to have production greenhouse that will give me happiness. I would also like to have a shelter for the homeless and an animal rescue centre that will be supported by my company.
María Jimena Sainz García
