Ronni Kern – Page 2 – California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc.

Scholarships and Grants

Education is one of CRFG’s cornerstones. Originally interpreted as educating the general public, it has over the years centered on the education of young people interested in growing rare and unusual fruits. Orange County and Central Coast chapters led the way by associating themselves with the two Cal Poly campuses and offering scholarships; but other chapters soon followed suit in their own way. LA Chapter has aligned itself with the one high school in the San Fernando Valley that teaches agriculture, and the grafting programs of both Central Coast and LA Chapters reach out to HS students to encourage interest in growing rare fruits. The Redwood Empire chapter is especially active in this regard and proudly supports groups such as Slow Food, CropMobster, Sonoma State University, The Heirloom Expo, Farm to Pantry Gleaners, Gravenstein Apple Fair and The Original Farmers’ Market. In addition, each year they vote to support a number of initiatives including scholarships to individuals and grants to local schools. Both San Diego and North San Diego chapters currently work with local community colleges.

CRFG, Inc., itself, entered that arena with the Scholarship Committee, an offshoot of the Development Fund, which has awarded from one to four scholarships each year for many years.

Welcome to the website of the California Rare Fruit Growers!

The California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) is the largest amateur fruit-growing organization in the world. We specialize in fruit not native to nor grown commercially in any given area; but our breadth of knowledge and experience covers the environmentally sound culture of any and all edible plants. What we have learned is exchanged on this website, in our magazine The Fruit Gardener, on field trips and at meetings of our 23 chapters (not all in California!). There we get to go face to face with noted international horticultural researchers, commercial growers, and representatives from institutions of higher learning… not to mention our passionate fellow hobbyists. In addition, we run the annual Festival of Fruit, have photography contests, grant college scholarships, and hold our famous scion exchanges. Come on in! The fruit is fine.

Please note: We are a non-profit organization. We are not a business and do not sell fruit or fruit trees. We do hold annual scion exchanges at our chapters’ January or February meetings, where CRFG members can exchange scion wood and learn how to graft it to their own fruit trees. The chapters also host public meetings to educate those interested in learning how to grow and propagate fruit.