Open-source green technology farm helps the developing world

The ECHO Farm in Southwest Florida serves a special purpose. The non-profit helps aid workers in developing countries use the best sustainable farming tools and techniques in ways that would make MacGyver proud.

ECHO chases that goal in a few different ways. At the farm, ECHO workers operate in a tropical Floridian environment that is remarkably similar to the climate of many developing countries. Here, they can work out what crops are best for places as disparate as Costa Rica and Tanzania. After they’ve discovered the best plants, and worked out how to maximize yield, ECHO invites aid workers to come and learn. Once the aid workers have been trained, they scatter like (and with) seeds across the developing world.