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THE OPPORTUNITY
ECHO is seeking college graduates whose strong Christian commitment is leading them to prepare for work with subsistence farmers or urban gardeners in the Third World. The internship is designed to serve both as a backbone of ECHO's ministry and as a learning-by-doing program in tropical horticulture and agriculture for those considering missionary service or other direct involvement with agriculture in the Third World.
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This is an outstanding opportunity for personal and professional development for those seriously considering a career in Third World development in the name of Christ. The interns have the satisfaction of making a major contribution to ECHO's global ministry while being exposed to all aspects of the ECHO ministry.
The interns quickly develop a "green thumb" and gain some experience in raising either goats, ducks, rabbits, chickens, bees, or fish. They develop skills in supervising volunteer workers, meeting the public, and in operating a small nursery. In addition, each intern is expected to pursue his/her own reading program using resources from our unique library.
Several interns that have gone on for graduate study have said that a year at ECHO was as valuable as a year of graduate school. Many have found that their time at ECHO helped them focus their goals and made it easier to know what direction to head after leaving ECHO -- whether to go overseas immediately, go to graduate school, focus on research, or minister within the United States .
ECHO provides interns with housing, utilities, health insurance and a stipend of $350 a month (before taxes) for the 12 months at ECHO. An additional $100 transportation supplement is paid if the intern provides his/her own car. We highly encourage interns to provide their own local transportation. ECHO is located in a rural area where no public transportation is available and as a result social, recreational, and church options are quite limited if you do not have transportation. If an intern does not have a car, he/she can use an ECHO vehicle (outside of work hours) for local travel if it is not needed for business. ECHO provides interns with a one-way plane ticket to Ft. Myers or reimburses interns at the rate of $0.15/mile for those who drive.
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THE RESPONSIBILITIES
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ECHO operates something akin to a botanical garden (though not nearly as formal) of plants that are important to small-scale farmers and gardeners in Third World countries. It also includes demonstrations of other components important on the small farm, e.g., small animals and appropriate technologies. However, ECHO is not a farm in the common sense of having large fields of crops and herds of animals. The "farm" serves as a hand on learning tool or work experience for interns, as a demonstration farm for missionaries and students, as an educational tool for public tours, and as a production farm for seeds and nursery plants.
ECHO interns are highly involved in the operation and maintenance of the farm, seedbank, and nursery. ECHO has one of the largest collections of tropical food plants in the country. These are grown for demonstration, teaching, and to supply seeds for the seedbank. |
Activities common to agricultural interns include:
- Growing many of the important tropical foods, under-exploited plants, fruit and multi-purpose trees
- Caring for animals
- Maintaining the various demonstrations
- Harvesting and cleaning seed and processing seed orders placed by missionaries, other development workers, and scientists
- Supervising the work of local volunteers
- Leading educational tours for visiting individuals and groups
Normal work hours are 7:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and as needed on Saturday mornings. You will normally have at least one Saturday each month totally free of work obligations (except for any chores for which you are responsible). Chores must be handled on Sundays and holidays as well. Most intern's find they spend between 40 to 50 hours/wk dedicated to hands-on work on the farm, in the office and with the public. Additional time, at the discretion of each intern, is spent in study, field trips, and in church and community activities with the other interns. The intern program is informal; learning for the most part occurs through hands-on experience. Additional learning occurs in weekly seminars, opportunities for training as they may arise in the course of the work, and experimentation. However ECHO does not run a formal training program for interns or students.
Each intern is responsible for one of the demonstration areas on the farm. These areas include the semi-arid gardens, hillside farming demo, monsoon school gardens, rainforest gardens, tropical lowland gardens, and the rooftop gardens. Each of these areas highlight plants and techniques which can be useful under very challenging conditions (such as when people have no land or limited rain or infertile soil.) Interns determine along with the farm manager what will be grown in each of these areas and care for and maintain these demonstrations. For more information on each of the areas, you may want to take the virtual tour of the Global Village.
Interns are also given special assignments, such as: He/she might be asked to help write an article for a newsletter, help prepare responses to inquiries from overseas workers, speak at a school or church, edit a video teaching tape, etc. Interns also share the housekeeping work involved in hosting missionaries, students and other guests.
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In addition to tasks that are common to all interns, each intern also has a special assignment in one of two options. The seedbank option oversees operation of ECHO's seedbank, which supplies hard-to-find seeds for trial to our network of 3500 missionaries and development workers. The nursery option focuses on propagation and sale of tropical and subtropical plants within ECHO's unique "Edible Landscape Nursery". |
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Seedbank : The seedbank interns are responsible for keeping ECHO's seedbank organized and stocked and for overseeing quality control. Activities include recording new accessions, cleaning and treating seed, checking viability, coordinating with interns and suppliers to replenish stocks, and packaging seed. An ideal candidate for this job is organized, enjoys details, and has (or is willing to develop) good management skills. People who are interested in botany and taxonomy find working with about 400 species of useful plants enlightening. This is an excellent job for polishing up organizational and management skills since the seedbank generally requires a lot of volunteer help. These interns learn the most about harvesting, processing, and storing all the different kinds of seeds. This is arguably the most appropriate track for those considering a career in an academic or administrative field.
Edible Landscape Nursery : The nursery team is primarily (but not exclusive) responsible to propagate and grow out the approximately 300 species/varieties of edible tropical and subtropical fruits and herbs that we carry in our "Edible Landscape Nursery". You will be amazed how many delicious tropical fruits there are that you never knew existed. This option provides interns an opportunity to develop practical plant production skills in the areas of plant propagation (grafting, air layering, cuttings, seeds and tubers), growing conditions (potting mixes, fertilizers, light requirements, pest control), and business and marketing (projecting demand, quality control, ordering supplies, tracking sales). For those doing hands-on development work, they will find the training especially relevant.
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THE CAMPUS
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ECHO is located on a 50-acre campus in southwest Florida, seven miles east of North Ft. Myers. In January 1992, ECHO purchased an adjoining 7-1/2 acre farm. An additional 9-acre piece of land was acquired during the summer of 1997. A new office building and visitor reception center was completed in October 1998 and the another new building housing the technical staff and library was completed in March 1999.
In the Fall of 2001, ECHO added an entirely new section of the farm which is divided up into six different climactic zones - the urban rooftop, hillside farming demonstration, tropical rainforest clearing, semi-arid region, monsoon area and tropical lowlands garden. Each agriculture intern is in charge of one of these areas during their stay at ECHO. Seed is maintained in a climate-controlled trailer adjacent to our Seed Bank. Other facilities include a 44-ft. long propagation greenhouse, a 35 x 76 ft. greenhouse containing appropriate technology demonstrations, and housing for interns and visitors.
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THE REQUIREMENTS
We do not require interns to have a degree in agriculture or the natural sciences nor that they have previous farm or gardening experience, although both are helpful. Most interns come to ECHO right after getting their bachelor's degree. However, we have had interns with a variety of experiences including graduate study, and work experience overseas and in the U.S. We look for candidates who likely will be involved in future work overseas. Some of ECHO’s past interns have taken positions with organizations doing agricultural development while others have worked in related fields such as community health. ECHO has both male and female interns. We also are able to accept married applicants. Interns must have a commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in his/her own life, be able to do manual work, and have good interpersonal skills. |
HOW TO APPLY
If you have questions about the internship, please contact Beth Doerr, ECHO's Intern/Student Coordinator at 239/567-3329 e-mail her at bdoerr@echonet.org. We are always glad to talk with potential candidates. We can also loan you a video or slide/tape presentation that describes ECHO's ministry (just ask for information on our audio/visual presentations)
We review applications in February and August and do phone interviews in March and September. Positions are generally committed 6-12 months ahead of time so it is best to get your application in as early as possible (up to 12 months before you are available). There is considerable competition and positions are limited. Being flexible in your starting dates and job assignment is very beneficial.
When you are ready, please click on the link below, fill out the application and mail the completed application form, your resume, and college transcripts to Beth Doerr at the address below.
Agricultural Internship Application in PDF Format
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