Due to my inability to attend the field trip at Pine Manor, today I was so fortunate to instead attend a very interesting and educational tour at the ECHO Global Farm and Appropriate Technology Village in North Fort Myers. Since there are two different tours available at ECHO, and I have already been on a number of tours similar to their Global Farm tour, I chose to take part in the AT tour. For starters, ECHO's mission according to their official website is: "Following Jesus by reducing hunger and improving lives worldwide through partnerships that equip people with agricultural resources and skills." And their goals are exactly as stated in their mission; they would like to educate and equip less fortunate people all over the world with the tools and skills needed to improve their everyday lives and combat world hunger. After taking the tour at ECHO, it is clear that they live up to their mission and goals with great pride. One thing that the ECHO farms does differently than the majority of the farms in the U.S. is the way they grow their crops. On a typical farm you will notice that most crops are grown in straight rows all together with the same crop. This is a highly productive way to mass produce and mass harvest crops. However, there are also some cons to this method; if one crop is diseased, it is very possible and likely that the entire lot will get diseased, and that can be detrimental to farmers. Also it doesn't allow for much diversity within your crops. ECHO farm, being a smaller farm meant for simply supplying a smaller number of people with a diverse amount of fresh produce, does things a little differently. ECHO farm is what we call a permaculture: an agricultural ecosystem intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. By planting different types of trees, fruits, vegetables, next to each other, you greatly reduce the risk of disease, and can drastically improve their growth rate and prosperity (like we saw at the Food Forest). Of the dozens of low, (or appropriate), technology methods that have been very beneficial to developing countries that I learned about today at ECHO, the one that stood out the most to me was the tilapia farm and agriculture system. I found this so impressive and interesting because it was a very self sustainable and multi-purpose system. The tanks hold tilapia based on there stage of life, the water from the tanks then flows into crop systems where it fertilizes the crops, the 3rd tank produces food for the tilapia, and then that food is brought back to the tilapia where the cycle restarts. This system is a great example of the amazing long-term benefits that can come with simple technology. As for a couple other interesting things that I saw while on the trip, one of the coolest to me had to have been many uses for bamboo. Bamboo can be used for pipe systems, sandpaper, and even to create an entire house with great shelter; (which is actually shown in one of my pictures). Then there was the simple but effective way to create clean water. After using a simple technology filtration device to make clear water from a pond, you then can simple put it in a clear 2 liter bottle, lay it out in the sun, and once it reaches 150 degrees it will be clean enough to drink. This is obviously a very vital method since clean water is a necessity for survival. All of these practices and innovative ways of creating simple but extremely useful technology are a great step in the right direction to prosperity in third world countries. Agricultural issues can be major in the places especially in places where fertile soil and clean water is not in abundance so these methods are a key component to the betterment of human lives. I was very fortunate to actually have a diverse group of people from different countries in Africa on my tour, who were actually there to learn how to directly implement these methods into their villages. I hope very much that they learned a lot and gained some useful knowledge to bring back home, and I'm confident that that did and will. Although I may not have a direct need for these simple appropriate technology methods, I now have seen first hand people that do, and the benefits and positive impact that places like ECHO provide, and I will definitely support the cause for as long as it takes to change the world.
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| Tilapia and Agriculture system |
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| A bamboo house seen on the tour |
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