You can do a lot of things to fight world hunger from Canada, but one thing it’s difficult to do is obtain hands-on food production strategies that fit some of the world’s hungriest southern climates. Given this reality, a number of socially conscious Canadians have flown south to Florida. There, between the balmy tourist beaches and the exotic wetlands lies ECHO, a 50-acre farm that trains international aid workers in effective, low-cost strategies for growing food and beefing up nutrition.

 

“In order for ECHO to be effective as a demonstration tool for missionaries and development workers going abroad, it must be set in a tropical climate, something Canada doesn’t have,” explains David Prins, a Lacombe, Alberta native who is spending the year as an intern at ECHO. “From an agriculturalist’s perspective, ECHO is a gold mine. There are literally hundreds of species of plants, and almost as many systems for cultivating those plants in to learn about.”