My colloquium class took a field trip on Tuesday to ECHO, which is located in North Fort Myers, Florida. ECHO stands for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. Their main goals are to find affordable agriculture for people in the rest of the world and to teach as well as facilitate small farmers. The four major components that are involved with obtaining this goal include problem solving ( for example, moving plants that were grown in one area to another area), seeds (which they provide to the farmers), providing the education and training needed in order to teach these farmers how to grow their plants, and finally networking. ECHO was set up in order to show the different problems that might be encountered by farmers in different climate zones. Some of these areas included the hot humid lowlands, the tropical highlands, and semi-arid environments.
There were many interesting plants at ECHO that we learned about. A tree called the Neem tree is used as an organic pest control and in earlier times, it had been used by people for dental health. The Moringa tree, also known as the Miracle tree, is very nutritious. It has a lot of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and protein in it. Its powder can be added to the meals of malnourished children as it will help them to gain weight much more quickly and easily. It can also be used to help small children who have diarrhea get better quicker and is highly useful for women who are breast feeding to take. While at ECHO, we also learned about the different methods about gathering water as well as purifying it. Irrigation pumps are used to safely deliver the water to the crops efficiently and without the use of energy. Drip irrigation is a technique that can be used in order to water crops and conserve water. Water can also be collected off roofs, and then later given to crops, or purified. It can be purified by using bio sand filters to remove the pathogens or by putting it into a clear two liter bottle in the sun for four to six hours so the UV rays will kill any pathogens in it. The Moringa seed can also be added as it will rid the water of any impurities.
In different environments, there are different challenges with growing plants. In areas that are prevalent for flooding, raised beds can be used in order to protect the plant from the excessive water. In areas such as Western Africa where there is a dry climate, sunken beds can be used in order to collect as much water as possible, while also protecting the plants from the harsh winds that may come across the area. In tropical highlands, slope agriculture land technology, (SALT), is used in order to grow crops while improving soil on the steep hillsides. |
| Ohh, a Pineaapple! |
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| Rice Paddies!!! |
In summary, I found the trip to ECHO to be an incredible source of knowledge about the increasing technology for sustainable farming as well as a wonderfully serene and calm place filled with beautiful plants. It was a wonderful trip and really made me think about how simple methods such as drip irrigation and irrigation pumps are so important to maintain a sustainable environment in which we live.I learned all of the information that is mentioned in this post during my field trip to ECHO
