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:
See our 2024 and 2025 Training Calendars below to save the dates and join us for upcoming trainings and conference!
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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.
- 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
- Reach us at conference@echonet.org if you have additional questions about conference
- 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:
- 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.
- 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 Development. 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
Contact:
Dr. Grace Miller
Phone Number
239-567-3375
Email Address
gmiller@echonet.org
NorthAmerica@ECHOcommunity.org
Physical Address
ECHO North America Regional Impact Center
17391 Durrance Rd.
North Fort Myers, FL 33917
Upcoming events: North America
ECHO North America: Introduction to Tropical Agriculture Development - January 2025
B.E., 20 Yanvar 2025 » C., 24 Yanvar 2025
ECHO North America, United States
Those interested in preparing for short to long-term involvement in international agriculture development are encouraged to participate in this five-day course. Topics and discussions will focus on improved food security and agricultural livelihoods for small-scale farmers in developing countries. Participants will be introduced to the complexities related to poverty and community development. They will also be introduced to principles and practices that contribute toward maintaining healt...
ECHO North America: TAD II: Food Forests, Garden Design and Planning
B.E., 7 Aprel 2025 » C., 11 Aprel 2025
ECHO North America, United States
This is a five day, hands-on course that will focus on food forests and garden design. By taking this course you will learn how to design and start a food forest in your own backyard. Participants will walk through the design process with professional designers, starting from setting goals, surveying the piece of land, building a base map, considering earthworks, and creatively designing around constraints. Attendees will be able to see and apply these principles to a small garden or a lar...
Latest Resources: North America
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