Agricultural

Humans are malnourished. One in nine, in fact. The Earth has the agricultural foundation to feed every person currently living on the planet, and yet, children die of starvation every day. To think that all the human race would need to do is ascend hunger as its top priority, we could end world hunger by becoming a more universally agricultural.

ECHO, a global Christian organization, provides technical training and equipment to the planet’s poorest regions. They put boots on the ground in these regions and reach out to farmers to provide expertize and state of the art agricultural equipment. In the form of sustainable plants, scientific techniques, and technology, ECHO leverages, agricultural knowledge to answer the question, “How will I feed my family tomorrow?”

There is no one-size fits all solution for every community or region. ECHO prides itself on environmental sustainability. They research and analyze the growth of plants. They take what they learn to the global community. ECHO then listens to regional farmers to understand their specific culture and challenges. The mission is to incorporate more practical and/or scientific methods into the farmers’ every day routine. ECHO helps farmers help themselves.

Right here in Fort Myers, ECHO has Global Farm. Watching ECHO’s Stacy Schwartz provide a virtual tour in a two part YouTube video, I became a believer. The farm not only provides a great place for research, but ECHO uses it to train students on the agricultural systems ECHO has developed. The tilapia farm system provides evidence to how ECHO considers all of the elemental as well as the economic factors in creating a fish farm.

I stopped the video and found a white paper on ECHO fish farming system. The harmony between the use of ducks, algae, and feeding levels is far beyond what a small farmer in an impoverished region could be expected to understand. ECHO understands both the food and agricultural footprint to how it will impact a region’s environment and economical systems.   

The world is made up of disconnected regions. Until recently, a thousand miles might as well have been a light year a way. The digital age is making Earth smaller, and it’s only in its infancy. It will take generations to blur out all age-old, systemic exclusions that separate us as one race, but hopefully, sooner rather than later, feeding hungry children will become crusade that most will consider to be ‘worthwhile. Missionary organizations like ECHO are on the front lines to feeding the world’s most impoverished peoples. As technology improves supply chains and communications while lowering costs to agricultural equipment, these organizations will become the global community that delivers the end of world hunger.