The Fairchild Farm & Tropical Fruit Collection
The Fairchild Farm: Home of Fairchild’s Tropical Fruit Program
In 2003, Frank Williams donated his 20-acre avocado grove and home to Fairchild. Mr. Williams had one request: that the property be used to help fruit growers in South Florida and around the world.
Today, approximately 15 acres of the property are used as a model avocado production grove. You’ll find many varieties of the fruit here, including Bernecker, Beta, Donnie, Hall, Miguel, and Simmonds avocados. These cultivars are desirable for commercial sale in the U.S. The grove is used as a demonstration model for best agricultural practices in tropical America, and its management practices are consistent with commercial avocado production in South Florida.
Living Genetic Collections
The Fairchild Farm is the permanent home of the living genetic collections of Fairchild’s Tropical Fruit Program. These collections are the cornerstone of the program, and play a role in the conservation of clones of key tropical fruit species, investigations into applied horticulture, and the distribution of plants to the local, national, and international communities. Today, the Fairchild Farm Genetic Facility is home to one of the world’s best collections of tropical fruit.
The primary collections include avocado, mango, jackfruit, mamey sapote, sapodilla, canistel, abrico (Mammea americana), caimito, spanish lime (Melicoccus bijugatus), and tamarind. Each collection has a unique scientific focus based on the research and outreach objectives of the program. These objectives define the makeup of the collections, the space needed for their conservation, and the commitment of resources to each.
Collecting the most exceptional selections of tropical fruit takes dedication. The collections at the Fairchild Farm are the result of our research scientists going door to door and garden to garden to gather the tropical fruits deemed most outstanding in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Their efforts toward the collection of clonal tropical fruit varieties are among the most ambitious of their kind throughout the modern world.
The Fairchild Farm serves as the headquarters for the activities of our Tropical Fruit Program, receiving local and international growers in search of the latest growing techniques.
International fruit summits and fruit camps for children and adults round out the activities. The collections serve as the basis for scientific discovery and immediate use for home garden, estate, and large-scale commercial agriculture throughout the world. Indeed, evaluations (eating the fruit) are a big part of our work, but the results of these gastronomic investigations will be felt and eventually tasted across the Americas and beyond.
Management techniques are appropriate for our goals and can provide useful guidance for your own backyard. For more information, click here.
To house the staff of the Tropical Fruit Program, a teaching and research building was constructed. It includes a classroom and a synoptic teaching collection. The Fairchild Farm serves as a valuable fruit genetic resource and outreach facility for Florida and tropical America.
To foster appreciation for the diversity of the mango, educational programs are presented to the local and international community. Participants learn about the wide range of flavors and uses of the mango, and can discover more than 350 different varieties at this event.
Our outreach program is built around the use of tropical fruit and tropical fruit products, with workshops, classes, and intern programs presented by Fairchild staff and volunteers. The goal is to nurture an appreciation for tropical fruit among the general public.
The Fairchild Farm
Home of the Fairchild Tropical Fruit Collection
14885 SW 248 St.
Homestead, Florida 33032
Directions to The Fairchild Farm