Have you ever heard of ECHO? You haven’t? Well, you’re not alone because many people who have been born and raised here in Southwest Florida haven’t either.
Whether it’s learning how to grow food using raised beds or finding ways to keep topsoil from eroding on a hillside, ECHO (Educational Concerns for Haiti Organization) shares practical ideas to help families grow food, even where growing isn’t always easy.
ECHO is a 57-acre nonprofit farm located in North Fort Myers, where I have been volunteering for the past 10 years. It is a Christian organization that partners with small-scale farmers and those serving them around the world so families can grow enough food to thrive.
I am a docent, or tour guide, at ECHO, and I have had the pleasure of meeting people not just from the United States, but from around the world.
The farm exists to provide hands-on learning opportunities for interns, staff, and members of ECHO’s global network who are looking for practical agricultural knowledge and training. The farm serves as a gateway to our global mission to ECHO’s work around the world.
The farm is divided into areas that represent many of the growing conditions found around the world. These include tropical lowlands, tropical highlands, monsoon, semi-arid, and rainforest environments, along with an Appropriate Technology Village, a community garden, and an urban garden.
ECHO also has regional impact centers in Thailand, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Guatemala. Each region has its own climate and growing conditions. This makes it important to share locally appropriate knowledge, seeds, and techniques so people receive resources that are best suited to where they live.
If you would like to learn more about ECHO, visit ECHOnet.org and explore what we are all about. Check out our schedule and come to either a farm tour or an Appropriate Technology tour. I would love to show you how, together, we can help fight hunger around the world.
ECHO GLOBAL FARM TOUR
ECHO’s global farm is anything but typical. According to the destination’s website, during the tour visitors will experience farming at its most creative, with unique demonstrations, plants, and techniques being used to help farmers and urban gardeners in developing countries.
There are seven different settings on the farm, with crops, techniques, and animals from around the world. ECHO is home to one of the largest collections of tropical food plants in the United States. Plus, its Urban Garden is a tour standout, with some unconventional, but effective ways to grow crops where there’s little to no soil.
The Anderson Appropriate Technology Center is applied science at its best. During the tour visitors will discover how simple technologies can improve food, water, and shelter for millions of people. The technologies include transforming sand into water filters, manure into energy, and bicycles in power tools. Also, the center shows how food goes from the field to the market and how ECHO is using simple solutions to change lives.
Tours are available Tuesday through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, and Saturday, 9 am to 3 pm.
Touring ECHO Farms provides a unique glimpse into creative farming and technology that can benefit millions of people around the world.
