With the opening of their Mexican venture, HortAmericas is not only physically appearing in the Latin American market and providing consulting services there but also makes a standpoint to keep on educating growers on how to succeed in their projects. This goes for both the greenhouse growers and vertical farming companies. "The investment in this area is really growing, even when so many people will think differently," says Karla Garcia, General Manager/ Consultant at Hort Americas Mexico.
It was a festive event earlier this month when the HortAmericas Mexico venture was officially opened. The team is focused on helping greenhouse and vertical farming projects in all of Latin America and on celebrating their newest venture in the year that already saw the opening of Hort Americas Canada, which was celebrated with kids' activities designed to ignite their interest in agriculture and innovation, a gathering for customers, the possibility to visit the growth room for leafy greens, and of course the new offices. But it wasn't just festive: there also was an educational activity, as the team taught a free short course on urban farming and showed how a small growth room could operate.
It's exemplary for the HortAmericas business. Just like their North American parent company, Hort Americas Mexico's primary objective is to foster a culture of learning and knowledge-sharing among growers. The company creates a lot of content for growers to get the knowledge required to succeed in their projects and provides short courses in English and Spanish on different topics around Controlled Environment Agriculture.
Beyond education, Hort Americas Mexico offers consulting services to private companies. "Hort Americas Mexico is now reaching a good position where I would say almost all projects involving the use of artificial lighting reach us for private consulting service, technical advice, buy products, or take at least one of our short courses," says Karla.
The team with Hort Americas has witnessed a surge in interest and investment in CEA, disproving misconceptions that such technologies are confined to North America. "We've been able to track and see the exponential growth in vertical farming," Karla says. "At the beginning, we were helping small projects (lots of microgreens growers), but now we are working on way more ambitious projects. The investment in this area is really growing, even when so many people will think differently." To provide context, Hort Americas Mexico has successfully shared their vertical farming short course with over 500 individuals across Latin America. "Many of these individuals are interested in starting their own business."
Of course, the team is also helping greenhouse growers. "But definitely, Hort Americas Mexico is taking a strong spot for helping vertical farming projects, and this is thanks to all the hard work done in this area in the US and Canada, which I would say is one of the most interesting aspects we have to share from our business in Latin America."
For more information:
Karla Garcia
Hort Americas Mexico
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www.hortamericas.com