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Sustainable Tropical Agriculture Seminar -- Gordon at ECHO

Projected dates: January 1-16, 2010

The Gordon College Biology Department in cooperation with the Global Education Office offers you the opportunity to live and study for a two-part global experience with ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization). ECHO is a nonprofit, Christian organization dedicated to fighting world hunger through ideas, agricultural information, training, and seeds.

1st part: At the ECHO farm in North Fort Myers, FL

2nd part: Continuing either in Honduras or Haiti. In Honduras, students will work with the Las Mangas Outreach, a mission near LaCeiba, Honduras, serving local farmers and helping with community development. In Haiti, students will work with various organizations involved in sustainable agriculture, reforestation, education, and community development.

ABOUT THE FIELD EXPERIENCES
Students will experience firsthand at ECHO the techniques in sustainable agriculture. The ECHO farm provides a practical classroom to study tropical plants and agriculture techniques for the developing world. At ECHO, workshops will include:

  • Tropical fruit trees--grafting, pruning, disease control
  • Seed germination experiments
  • Rooftop gardens--vegetables, grains, and carrot  crops
  • Appropriate technology--biogas stoves, drip irrigation

Lectures and workshops will be held daily. Students will be given exams and will submit reports and a journal.

The course continues in Honduras of Haiti, doing strenuous field work with missionaries and local farmers, and observing sustainable farms. In the field students will:

  • Work on local farms
  • Tour farms as well as agroforestry and irrigation projects
  • See application of ECHO techniques
  • Teach biology classes at a local school
  • Assist in the local mission with community development work

As a group, students will meet each evening for a brief seminar and review of the day's projects. Students will submit an integrative essay exam and a journal.


CONTACT

For further information please contact:

The Global Education Office
p: 978.867.4399
e:

Dr. Ming Zheng
Professor of Biology    
e:  

See the ECHO homepage for further details about ECHO's global farm and their non-profit work in the global village. For further details about the Gordon's program at ECHO, please contact the GEO.