On February 13th, FGCU's
Honors Colloquium class took a trip to ECHO (Educational Concerns for
Hunger Organization), a demonstration farm located in Ft. Myers dedicated to
helping those who work internationally to advance agriculture in poor
communities. ECHO was not what I expected. We had an entertaining guide who,
despite his age, had an energy that was contagious. His knowledge of various
plants combined with the way he made the information easy to understand made
the whole experience enjoyable overall. Periodically he would hand us leaves or
fruit of of trees to eat as he explained they're beneficial properties. The
various way ECHO grew foods shed a light on global agriculture as it pertains
to different types of terrain. I picture "American" agriculture as
sprawling fields with rows upon rows of wheat, corn, tomatoes, and citrus
fruits. At ECHO, there were rice paddy plots, slopped fields that seem almost
impossible to grow on, and moringa tree branches acting as a fence.
ECHO's work is very relevant to the developing world because it
isn't practical for the rest of the world to farm like we do, in the scale we
do. The urban garden would be useful in big cities where there isn't room to
have a sprawling garden in your backyard. Also, their work with "appropriate
technology", (which is using available resources to improve quality
of life in impoverished areas) shows how innovative one can be with what's
given to them. Though the work done at ECHO interests me, I'm not interested in
performing service learning with this agency, I'm already involved in
other organizations that take up more than enough of my time.
