Margarita Hurtarte, Founder, and manager of agro-laboratory CERES has led with her husband the company since its inception 25 years ago, making technology available to farmers for soil analysis, improving decision-making in the use of economic resources and thus having better profitability in soils and the environment.
Being agronomist engineer and having a master´s degree in plant physiology that realized in Brazil, It was in this destination where Margarita started her passion for soils; besides, her husband has a doctorate in the same field, which they complement each other professionally.
“As the manager of a laboratory dedicated to this type of test in agriculture, I have had different challenges and I think that as a woman the biggest ones have been to have a professional balance, being a mother, a wife, leading my team where most they are women and being able to perform in each of these roles in the best possible way and distribute the time of my day and my week in all these roles, “Hurtarte mentioned.
Before beginning at CERES, Margarita worked in a soil laboratory of the Guatemalan Institute of Science and Technology, acquiring professional experience in the field of soil laboratories and their analysis. In addition, professionally there were challenges in the agricultural world since it is a mostly male world and participating in field training or consulting was not usual.
“At the beginning it was quite difficult for me, now those who know me and hear me speak, thanks to my knowledge acquired through my years of experience, recognize that I handle the subject, I have enough knowledge to be respected and give good training,” she added.
But there have also been great achievements and one of them is to remain in the market for 25 years, contribute to success and that farmers and businessmen seek and recognize the credibility of the services of the CERES Agro-laboratory. Despite being a small laboratory, they are recognized throughout Guatemala and in any crop, whether in the area of vegetables for export, in the area of rubber, coffee, cardamom, oil palm, and cane.
As a professional women who has opened up a field in this profession, Margarita has learned that men and women have abilities and weaknesses which they must know and strengthen, to give their best, she incite all those women who begin a career in the professional field to continue investigating new topics, strengthen their skills in the field and in research.
In the future as a professional, she hopes to cooperate to be accredited with the 17025 standard and to approve the import of soil samples, to expand the client portfolio to other countries; and personally, she intends to continue opening her knowledge and expanding to other alimentary fields
Web site: http://www.labceres.com/quienes_somos.html
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This is a story from the #EnGuate segment
