Presentations
Tropical Agriculture Development: The Basics
ECHO’s History, Mission and Services – An introduction to ECHO and its global services (one hour)
Overview of Tropical Agriculture: Climate, Crops & Geography (On-farm presentation) – This Global Farm-based tour highlights appropriate cropping systems for various climates and regions of the tropics (1.5 hours).
Understanding the Poverty Mentality – Incorporating Biblical Application, this presentation/discussion focuses on the correlation of poverty and spiritual factors (1.5 hours).
An Introduction to Soils and Soil Life (Presentation and discussion) - An exploration of basic soil properties and the elements of healthy soil including the relationship between soil organisms (from bacterial to earthworms) and farm/gardening practices (e.g. composting, mulching) that maintain soil health (1.5 hours).
Land Care and Soil Restoration - A review of the cause and effects of land degradation with recommended sustainable approaches for restoring and maintaining the health and productivity of farmland, including practices such soil coverage, agroforestry and conservation agriculture (1.5 hours).
Building Soil Fertility with Compost and Vermiculture (On- farm practical demonstration) – ECHO staff guide guests and students on a hands-on tour of various composting and vermiculture components located on the Global Farm (1.5 hours).
Water for Agriculture (On-farm tour) – Focusing on improved conservation of soil moisture, rainwater harvesting and supplemental irrigation, this session overs an overview of water management practices for improved crop production in the tropics (1.5 hours).
Underutilized Tropical Crops (Presentation and discussion) – This presentation highlights neglected and underutilized crops for improved income and nutrition, including perennial vegetables (e.g. moringa, katuk, Chaya), root crops (Hausa potato, taro/cocoyam) and grain crops (amaranth, Job’s tears)as well as their selection and promotion (1.5 hours)
Harvesting & Using Underutilized Tropical Crops (Presentation and on-farm practical) – During this farm-based practicum, participants will be introduced to select underutilized crops to be harvested for meal preparation (1.5 hours). This session is offered on a limited basis.
Survey of Tropical Fruits (Presentation and farm tour) – The diversity and importance of tropical fruits for small farms will be highlighted with an emphasis on various high impact fruit crops best suited for various ecological/climatic zones. Crops and related topics include jackfruit, mango, banana/plantain, papaya, citrus, carambola, tamarind and jujube with discussion of indigenous fruit, fruit domestication, crop improvement and the introduction of new species (1.5 hours)
ECHOcomminuty.org Overview (Presentation) – ECHOcommunity provides development workers worldwide with connections to valuable resources in tropical agriculture development. In this session participants will learn how to interact with experts and problem solvers online through the ECHOcommunity.org website (30 minutes).
Basic Botany for Gardening (On-farm practical) – A wide variety of crops and other plants throughout the farm will be investigated to help build understanding about their unique qualities and roles related to food production (1.5 hours).
Principles and Practices of a Small-Scale Farm (On-farm practical) – Led by the ECHO Farm Manager, this tour explores various farming principles and practices that enable improved and sustained farm production. Examples of such practices include: mulching, minimum tillage, crop rotation, use of green manure/cover crops as well as compost and other soil fertility amendments. Various farming principles include: farm diversity, agricultural systems approaches, ways to extend the growing season and a strong dependence on perennial crops (1.5 hours).
Animal Production Systems (On-farm Tour) – This farm tour focuses on the importance of livestock in small-scale farms and how various livestock and cropping systems offer mutual support. Livestock systems on the farm include intensive, rotation grazing; deep-litter systems for pigs and cut-and-carry forage systems for goats as well as free range chicken and duck production (1.5 hours).
Urban Agriculture – This presentation/discussion offers an overview of practical food production approaches for urban areas (e.g., rooftop gardening) as well as other backyard farming situations where land and other resources are limited. These small-scale practices can support various types of fruit, vegetable, fish and livestock farming as well as vermiculture and insect production (1.5 hours).
Appropriate Technology Survey (AT tour and demonstrations) – Focusing on the key themes of food, water and shelter, visitors will be introduced to numerous appropriate technologies that can be produced and promoted in developing countries (1.5 hours).
Seed Saving (Presentation and seed bank tour) – Following a presentation of basic seed saving methods, participants will tour the ECHO farm’s seed crop grow out area and then visit the seed bank to observe how ECHO seeds are processed, packaged, inventoried and distributed to the network (1.5 hours).
Principles of Community Development (Presentation and discussion) – This session offers a foundation for community development including potential pitfalls (e.g., fostering dependency) and highlighting essential elements such as needs assessments, the mobilization of stakeholders and the life cycle of a development activity (1.5 hours).