ECHO’s Growfest set for Oct. 24
The mission of ECHO is to defeat hunger and improve the lives of people around the globe by utilizing the technology available to help farmers grow crops and feed the cattle.
Recently, ECHO, which is based in North Fort Myers on its farm on Durrance Road, brought together people from throughout the world and from different organizations for the Sustainable Agriculture and Appropriate Technology Symposium in Ethiopia.
ECHO brought together 47 participants representing 12 nationalities and 44 organizations for this event that strengthened partnerships and explored approaches to youth engagement, market access, value chains, and sustainable agriculture.
The symposium highlighted the many ways ECHO volunteers and farmers have thought outside the box ways to grow crops.
In West Africa, an internally displaced person in Burkina Faso, created a soil-less garden where he was rehoused and began growing vegetables during a tough growing season.
Others throughout the world held garden training lessons combining classroom work and hands-on training.
There are new centers that have been built in Central America and another is expected to open in South Asia soon.
Which brings us to what is happening here in our backyard. Indeed, ECHO continues to do a lot to combat hunger here.
Laurana Gonzalez, communications director at ECHO, said there are five centers globally and each holds different conferences throughout the year.
“Our impact centers hold symposiums for small farmers. The teams located there are in charge of holding a three-day conference or one-day training,” Gonzalez said. “Here at the Florida site, we’re engaging in a North American context.”
Gonzalez said the symposiums in Africa can bring in farmers from as many as 20 different countries, each with their own individual needs.
“That is usually the biggest challenge but also the biggest joy with the diversity,” Gonzalez said. “One symposium in Central America had about 15 countries represented including Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, some Caribbean. That’s what our teams are training for.”
These countries will exchange ideas and strategies to help each other grow crops to create a network with a wide variety of people, Gonzalez said.
Here at home, ECHO will hold an event on Oct. 24 called Growfest, a plant and seed sale where items are going to be sold at 15 percent off with free tours happening throughout the day.
All this comes before the big annual ECHO conference from Nov. 10 to 12 in Fort Myers at the Fort Myers Gulf Coast Hotel and the ECHO farm. The theme this year is “Rooted Resilience: From Soil Health to Community Wellbeing.”
Gonzalez said last year nearly 300 delegates came from more than 20 countries. As this is the founding site, delegates come to this conference and the big intersection of people doing community development.
“They give updates on what they’re doing and it’s a great joy to be a part of it,” Gonzalez said. “We do discussion sessions at the Crowne Plaza and some more sessions on the farm and visual demonstrations.”