ECHO's Global Farm trains interns, students and overseas development workers in tropical agriculture. The first stage of the project was completed in February 2001 and was finalized in 2004. Guided tours of the Global Village are enjoyed by over 10,000 tourists, local residents, colleges, and church groups each year. Tours are used to educate about agricultural issues in developing countries, while highlighting unique solutions to growing food under harsh conditions.

Areas of the Global Farm

The Global Farm is divided into seven main areas. Each area is managed by one of ECHO's agricultural interns who spends 12 months cultivating, harvesting, and researching numerous crops, fruit trees, and nutritious food plants. Each plot is also used to produce seeds which are ultimately packaged and sent overseas in order to be evaluated as a potential new food crop. Showcased on the various plots are affordable and sustainable farming techniques that also incorporate suitable animals and appropriate technologies.

Click on the links below to learn about each area on our demonstration farm.

Tropical monsoon climates are characterized by alternating wet and dry periods with seasonal wind shifts. The rainy season normally lasts only 5-7 months.

Densely populated urban areas like those seen in Mexico City or in St. Petersburg, Russia, offer little land space for gardening. Flat rooftops are possible gardening areas in crowded cities.

The semi-arid tropics are hot dry regions found between wet/dry tropical monsoon regions and extremely arid deserts. Rainfall in the semi-arid tropics is low and erratic - perhaps only 10-30 inches per year.

The practice of hillside farming is increasing worldwide as more desirable farming sites are converted to other uses. The poor are forced to use the marginal lands on steeper slopes and more remote hillsides.

The climate at the equator, in regions like the Congo, Indonesia, and the Amazon basin, is hot and humid nearly all year long. Annual rainfall often exceeds 120 inches during the long rainy season.

Hot humid lowlands are found on islands and in low altitude coastal regions in the wet tropics. An annual rainfall of 80-120 inches is well distributed throughout the long rainy season.