ECHO Farm and the Food Footprint

Reflect upon my ECHO Farm experience:

One thing that I learned about sustainability is that ECHO workers teach people and equip them with agricultural resources and skills to reduce hunger and improve the lives of the poor. They also train people, especially in other countries, where language barriers can exist. Organizations like this are important because their purpose is to help those who are teaching farmers around the world know how to be more effective in producing enough to meet the needs of their families and their communities. ECHO has been fighting world hunger with innovative ideas, information, agricultural training and seeds. It utilizes an array of techniques for growing tropical food and forage plants in difficult areas, such as hillsides, flood-prone lands, urban rooftops, and semi-arid regions.

An example of an adaptive technology that we experienced is the step action pump. The step action pump is a human powered solution used to harvest and manage rainwater. This device is perfect for getting water out of a well in case of a long term event without electricity. Discovering this at the ECHO farm has made me realize that I can apply this to my own life. In the event of a hurricane, which can potentially knock out the power.as well as possibly flood my basement I could use it to clear the unwanted water.

Some examples of plants that I have encountered were the rice cultivation and the Asian Kitchen Garden. The rice cultivation has multiple benefits such as it is less dependent on continual flooding, it reduces seed costs and it increases production. The Asian Kitchen Garden provides a year round score of nutrition and saves farmers money on regular seed purchases.

Food Footprint:

My experience with gardening has included watering household plants and occasionally taking care of food producing vegetation (banana tree). If I had to grow my own food my life would be different because I would need more land in order to produce a sufficient quantity of food to sustain my lifestyle. When I fasted for an extended amount, I felt more irritable, very tired and weak. I think it’s important to grow a biodiversity of foods with the aim of maintaining a healthy diet. Well, most of my foods come from the supermarket and honestly most of my consumption comes from imported goods.

Some things that I eat are relatively locally grown such as tomatoes, lemons and green apples that are sourced from farms in Immokalee, Florida which is approximately 35 miles away, while other items that I partake in are imported and/or processed in other various countries. Yes, most supermarket foods do contain pesticide residues so I believe what is most important for eating better, more sustainable food is to purchase organic locally sourced produce. I have already implemented this idea into my everyday life by committedly shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. However, the obstacles I may face are the costly expenses along with the burden of time and travel. I plan to consolidate a week’s worth of grocery trips into a single once a week outing. This will help cut down on expenses and decrease the amount of time to and from the grocery store. 
References
Maravilla, Marissa. 2015. JPEG File. 

The sign outside the ECHO Farm in Fort Myers, Florida

The Gardening section of the ECHO Farm

Passion fruit from the ECHO Farm