The Educational Concern for Hunger Organization is known better as "ECHO," and has a demonstration farm in North Fort Myers, Florida. The ECHO organization pools together information, and resources from a wide variety of people all over the world. The strive to end global hunger, especially by informing other regions with environments that are not good for agriculture. Also, they help to address issues with urban environments where many poor, and malnorished people live and don't know how to utilize an urban enviorment for successfully growing agriculture. On ECHO's website, they list their "vision" as being "to bring glory to God and a blessing to mankind by using science and technology to help the poor." (http://www.echonet.org/content/whatWeDo). They are also a non-for profit and inter-denominational Christian organization (http://www.echonet.org/content/whatWeDo). However, what they do goes onto help everyone in the world, no matter what race, ethnicity, or religious beliefs. What ECHO does truly affects the entire world, and takes a hands on approach to address the issues that continue to plague our world as we continue into the 21st century. Walking through the ECHO's demonstrational farm in North Fort Myers, you really get an idea at what it is they do to benefit the world. The organization shows people in different regions throughout the world that are poor, under resourced, and under privileged and show them similar agriculture techniques that are successful in other regions that are very similar in climate, temperature, and overall environmentally very similar. By showing these techniques for fruit, vegetables, and other vegetation that really benefit people in a wide variety of ways they can show people how to grow fruit and feed themselves, who once couldn't. Furthermore, ECHO also helps to provide seeds and many other resources including groups of people who travel to these extremely poor and underprivileged places to actually teach, help, and show these groups of people in these regions what, and how to successfully grow these farms where they once thought they couldn't. At the demonstrational farm you see all types of fruit from all over the world, and they include directions on everything on how to grow them. They also offer seeds with the same information such as what soil, how much light from the sun they prefer, how much water, and there preferred environment, and surroundings. Also, at the ECHO farm you see how people can make self-sustaining farms where every thing benefits, and continues the cycle of the farm. Since many poor people don't ever eat enough protein, and especially meet; the farm shows how to be able to eat healthy, while being extremely sustaining to be able to continue and provide the resources. At ECHO demonstrational farm, the utilize ducks who eat plants then go in Tilapia (a vegetarian fish) Ponds and use the bathroom and expel their waste, their waste then turns into algae, which feeds the Tilapia. The is very important, and best of all sustainable for people who are malnourished. It is self-sustaining and continues to give, the ducks provide eggs, and can eventually be eaten, the Tilapia are easy to grow, reproduce very successfully, and best of all one adult sized Tilapia can feed an entire family in some of these places. This was explained to us by our guide at ECHO.
The Sub-tropical environment of South West Florida is perfect for the demonstration farm. It is a great climate for agriculture, and can also effectively be used as sort of an experiment for ideas to try in other climates, and regions. They can test different ideas here, and find out what is successful and can be implemented in areas that need it most. It is awesome that ECHO helps people, yet does interesting, and cool stuff. It is good to know that people are this passionate and caring for other people who don't have nearly nothing at all. ECHO truly shows how successfully, and little it takes, but action to help people are throughout the world, right on the front lines. By actually fighting major global issues like malnourishment, and hunger, ECHO is being proactive in helping the world advance. Also, they implement sustainable practices, which in many of these areas is extremely necessary, or else there will be no more resources in these areas; so it is truly important to utilize only sustainable practices in these areas with little to no resources. It is great to learn first hand how people, and you can make a real difference in benefiting the world with a hands on approach that may seem simple, but helps so many people.
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