North America Regional Resources

About the Impact Center

The mission and purpose of ECHO North America Regional Impact Center (North America RIC) is to equip small-scale farmers, missionaries, and development workers worldwide to combat hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Here at ECHO North America, individuals are trained with practical and cost-effective ways to reduce hunger through agricultural practices.

Upcoming Events:

In April you can join us at ECHO North America in one or both of our Tropical Agricultural Development courses.

Connect With Us Through

• In-Person Training: ECHO offers various study options located at our North America RIC in North Fort Myers, Florida. We currently offer two training courses thoughout the year: Tropical Agricultural Development I and Tropical Agricultural Development II, which are five days in length hosted here on the farm. We also provide a space for outside instructors to use our facilities to host their trainings here on the farm. 
  • TAD 1 - July 2024
  • TAD 2 - September 2024

• Conference: The plenary speakers, breakout sessions and workshops provide opportunities for learning with others devoted to eradicating hunger and improving lives through agriculture, clean water, and community development. Speakers share their agricultural challenges and successes, personal experiences, and transferrable principles for improving the lives of millions facing food insecurity daily. The highlight is networking with like-minded practitioners, researchers, and educators. 
  • Join us at our 2024 conference from November 12-14. Click on the link below for more information and to register! 
  • ECHO International Agricultural Conference 2024

• Farm Tours: We currently have two tours that take place on the farm: ECHO Global Farm Tour and ECHO Appropriate Technology Village Tour. During the Global Farm Tour you’ll experience farming at its most creative, with unique demonstrations, plants, and techniques being used to help farmers and urban gardeners in developing countries. During the Appropriate Technology Tour you’ll discover how simple technologies can improve food, water, and shelter for millions of people. These technologies include transforming sand into water filters, manure into energy, and bicycles into power tools. For more information or to schedule a tour please use the links provided: 
  • ECHO Global Farm Tour 
  • ECHO Appropriate Technology Village Tour

• Seed Bank: The goal of the ECHO Global Seed Bank is to serve as a resource for development workers who wish to experiment with underutilized crops as they work to improve the lives of small scale farmers and gardeners. The seed bank maintains a collection of hard-to-find seeds that thrive under the often difficult growing conditions of the tropics and sub-tropics.
  • ECHO Global Seed Bank

• Internships: Our 1-year internship equips college graduates with the academic theory and practical skills related to agriculture and community development. This year helps prepare interns to serve as international missionaries and development workers. Upon successful completion, they receive a Certificate in Tropical Agriculture and 13 graduate credits through ECHO’s partner, Dallas International University (DIU). After 1 year at ECHO, interns may have the opportunity to participate in a 6-month field experience at one of ECHO’s Regional Impact Centers.

Services

• Host trainings to gain applicable agricultural knowledge and skill to better serve others in need
• Host annual conferences to share agricultural knowledge and build network connections
• ECHO seed bank provides packaged seeds to network members in need
• Provide garden and agricultural displays for different terrains found world-wide
• Offer technical responses to agriculture questions to network members through ECHOcommunity.org
• Give farm tours to interested guests to learn more about ECHO's mission and the fight against hunger