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ECHO continues to be motivated by agricultural and community-based needs and strives to make its technical resources available to both global and domestic organizations. Through the Community Garden Assistance Program, an expansion of our organization within southwest Florida, ECHO offers resources such as basic trainings and consultation for local garden projects.

A unique perspective that ECHO brings to the domestic community gardening movement is a perspective of agriculture shaped by our work with small-scale farmers in many of the poorest regions of the world. We seek to provide an opportunity for practical and affordable ideas to be shared and communicated across the globe. This often takes the form of low-cost and low-input recommendations, which typically include the use of nutritious tropical perennials and subtropical plant varieties as part of a sustainable agricultural system.

 



  1. Key Resource The purpose of this resource is to suggest several key considerations for beginning a small garden project. This information is meant to be a guideline to better assist you in the organization and implementation of particular elements crucial to making a garden project successful. While each...
  2. 2013-12-01 Brad Ward has many years of experience in agricultural finance as a loan officer and underwriter, and has reviewed and advised on hundreds of business and farm plans. Currently he works on the North Coast of Honduras as the farm manager for Cornerstone Farm/Hospital Loma de Luz. He also works...
  3. 2020-07-17 Have you checked out the Conversations section on ECHOcommunity.org? A conversation in May centered around emergency gardens, especially in light of COVID-19 quarantines/shut-downs. An ECHO network member who works in Guatemala asked for ideas for growing nutritious plants in limited space.
  4. 1983-06-19 I first read of this method of gardening in Organic Gardening magazine where it was referred to as permanent mulch gardening. My reaction was that there must be something wrong with anything so easy or everyone would be using it. But our garden has performed so exceptionally well with so little...
  5. 2012-01-01 In the United States, as in many other countries, schoolyard and community gardens are gaining popularity. Such gardens have potential for much more than just contributing to food security. Participants learn about nutrition and growing food, and they connect in a deeper way with where food comes...
  6. Creating and maintaining community and school gardens has been identified as an effective strategy to increase healthy food awareness and consumption. Fresh fruit and vegetables have unfortunately been linked to over 450 outbreaks of foodborne illness in the U.S. since 1990. In commercial food...
  7. What are the benefits of school and community gardens? The students at the schools enjoy the benefits of the plants they have grown as they are provided with a nutritious lunch at school. Initially children only tend the plants at school, but within a short time-frame they can be provided with...
  8. This group page exists so that individuals involved in Community Gardens around the world can connect. We encourage you to share the challenges you face in your Community Garden endeavors, discuss lessons and techniques learned through your experiences, and share your story!
  9. According to a 2011 study of the prevalence of food insecurity among migrant farmworkersin Georgia, 62.8% did not have enough food. The same study found that the level of food insecurity in this population of migrant and seasonal farmworkers was more than 4 times greater than the general U.S....
  10. 2017-01-20 This paper is shared as acase study of a greenhouse project in a cold climate. It contains information on the benefits of greenhouses in a temperate setting. Technical details provide practical considerations ingreenhouseconstruction, some of which would also apply to tropical settings. We noted,...
  11. 2010-05-20 Food Always in the Home as modifed by Larry Yarger, ECHO, 2010 under the auspices of the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, International Most rural areas of the world subsist on growing food, with food security top-of-mind for most agrarian communities.Believe it or not, there are still...
  12. Green Education Foundation (GEF) is a national non-profit organization committed to creating a sustainable future through education. GEF aims to identify key factors and impediments influencing sustainability education, evaluate existing approaches, and develop effective educational materials and...
  13. 2015-05-19 A participatory learning approach, applied at each stage of a community development project, is crucial to reaching the level of stakeholder involvement needed for lasting, positive change. The use of participatory survey and planning methods in the development process encourages community...
  14. Presented at the ECHO International Agriculture Conference 2015 Mark’s presentation will demonstrate how the Haiti-based FONDAMA Yard Garden program helps people make small, daily changes that are consistent, persistent, and positive without being intrusive. We will look at examples of how the...
  15. 2018-11-20 Most hunger and malnutrition around the world is not usually caused by a lack of food, although that may be changing. From the point of view of the hungry family, the cause is usually a lack of income sufficient to purchase the food. Anyone with enough income will be able to obtain food, except...
  16. Abstract,Journal of Development Effectiveness, 2018 The Realigning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition (RAIN) project was designed to address child undernutrition through a multisectoral approach which integrated agricultural diversification to improve access to nutritious foods, the promotion of...
  17. Session:The session will first provide an overview of WorldVeg’s efforts in using traditional African vegetables in the region, based on its collection in Arusha, Tanzania, the largest in Africa. The overview will single out amaranth as well as traditional vegetables useful in drylands. Second,...
  18. 2018-07-26 Community food forests are rapidly emerging across the United States as part of local movements promoting food literacy and community building. Fueled by the popularity of permaculture and agro-ecology, these food forests are capturing the imagination of people in neighborhoods, towns, and cities...
  19. Abstract,Biological Agriculture and Horticulture, 2012 The attainment of the Millennium Development Goals is at severe risk owing to rising malnutrition and high child stunting and mortality rates, greater poverty, a large increase in the incidence of non-communicable diseases and lack of...
  20. In the past five to ten years, there has been increasing research of the healing, social, and therapeutic benefits that plants impart to human life. With all of the resultant new information, people have become confused by the many facets of people-plant interactions, including the meaning of...
  21. 2005-01-01 A community gardener’s delight! This book offers a selection of the best stories and articles about community gardening from the American Community Gardening Association's magazines, 1982 to 2004. Honoring ACGA's 25th anniversary, it features practical, time-tested information on how to make your...