Community Fruit Trees
1 Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative
Through a grassroots collaborative effort of thousands of friends and colleagues across the nation and world we will be planting one million fruit and nut trees over the next decade!
We have planted 2,000 Community Fruit Trees since 2018 and our limiting factor has been the cost of purchasing trees. We will now be growing our trees through developing a network of hundreds of local micro-nurseries that each produce between one hundred and a few thousand trees per year.
We are in the development stages of the 1 Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative. We welcome you to learn more about our 1 Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative here.
If you’d like to plant Community Fruit Trees, please fill out our Community Fruit Tree Steward Waiting List.
If you’d like to be a Micro-Nursery Steward, harvest propagation materials, donate trees, volunteer or financially support, please fill out our Micro-Nursery Stewards, Propagation Material Harvesting, Tree Donations, Volunteers and Sponsors Form.
If you’d like to volunteer or join our team, please fill out our Core Team Members Form. We are hiring!
Donate Here to Help us Plant 1 Million Trees
Community Fruit for All
What are Community Fruit Trees?
Community Fruit Trees are generally publicly owned and available for everyone to enjoy. The goal is to have access to delicious, nutritious fruit. We also hope to reduce hunger, improve our natural environment, create a deeper connection to our food, build community, and exercise our independence from the globalized, industrial food system.
A sign next to the trees invite people to enjoy the fruit. Trees can be found on the map below. Just imagine picking an abundance of fruit directly from the trees and shrubs right in your neighborhood!
We are here to help establish Community Fruit Trees in your community! Since 2018 we have been of service through two programs. With our grants program, we provided grants to selected recipients to purchase the trees from local nurseries as well as basic materials like mulch. With our trees by mail program we had the trees mailed to our recipients through our partner nurseries.
For information on how to add your neighborhood’s Community Fruit Trees to the Falling Fruit Map, follow this page for instructions. (Whether you are a recipient of our program or not you are welcome to use this.)
Why do we need Community Fruit Trees?
Everyone deserves fresh fruit, but millions of US Americans live in food deserts (more aptly titled food apartheid) with limited access to local produce. Grocery store fruit typically arrives from across the country and around the world via fossil fuel-powered transportation, causing harm to the environment. These fruits are also generally picked unripe, which hinders peak flavor and nutrition. Food doesn’t have to come from the store. It can grow freely and abundantly all around us!
Where can the trees be planted?
We often focus on highly accessible locations – residential front yards and businesses with access from a public sidewalk, in the medians between streets and sidewalk, at schools, in public parks, in churchyards, and along bike trails to name a few places. But we welcome trees to be planted anywhere that they serve the people and Earth!
Planting on the median between the street and sidewalk:
How did the Community Fruit Trees program begin?
We set out on the mission to ensure that our neighbors had access to delicious, nutritious fruit. To do this, Robin Greenfield and the Live Like Ally Foundation came together to establish the grassroots project, Community Fruit Trees. By establishing public fruit trees, this initiative helps reduce hunger, creates a deeper connection to our food, improves our natural environment, builds community, and exercises our independence from the globalized, industrial food system. We believe food is a human right, not a commodity.
In 2018, the Community Fruit Trees program launched in Orlando, Florida where we planted 200 Community Fruit Trees. In November 2019, we began offering grants to folks across the USA to bring Community Fruit Trees to their towns. In 2021 the initiative successfully planted 1,000 Community Fruit Trees in 30 communities across 20 states. Learn more about our 2021 planting here. To date we have planted over 2,000 Community Fruit Trees.
Is Planting Trees a Fruitful Investment?
You bet it is! A fruit tree typically costs our program around $30 (the cost of a dozen pounds of fruit) plus the cost of mulch and tree protection and the time needed to plant it and minimal ongoing care. That small effort will provide fresh, local, nutritious fruit for your community for many years to come. A single mature persimmon tree has the ability to grow as much as 90 to 100 pounds of fresh fruit in one season, talk about a return on investment! We want to help ensure your success. Please utilize the variety of resources linked below for a wealth of knowledge and support!
Community Fruit Trees FAQ – For more specific information and any additional questions.
Community Fruit Tree Care and Planting Guide – Bare Root Trees – An in depth guide to planting and caring for bare root and young trees.
Community Fruit Tree Care Guide – An in depth guide for maintaining healthy potted and mature trees.
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation – An amazing resource that includes a guide to planting fruit trees, what to do once your tree is in the ground (aftercare) and more.
Community Fruit Tree Care Guide for Florida – An in depth guide for maintaining healthy potted and mature trees in Florida.
Want to Get Involved?
– Read about our developing 1 Million Community Fruit Trees initiative. This page shares details and how you can currently get involved.
– Plant a Community Fruit Tree in your community. Simply follow the guidelines for a good location, put up a sign, add it to the fallingfruit.org map and then email us at growfood@robingreenfield.org so we can add it to the database.
– Share Your Tree with the Community. Already have a fruit tree and want to share the bounty with your neighbors? Simply put up a sign, add it to the fallingfruit.org map and then email us at growfood@robingreenfield.org so we can add it to the public database.
– Sign up for our waitlist to be supplied with Community Fruit Trees to plant in your community! Sign up for our waitlist here.
– Sponsor the planting of Community Fruit Trees! Donate here.
– Join our Facebook Group; where those involved or interested in the Community Fruit Tree program exchange updates, advice, and establish a larger connected network for community and support.
Community Fruit Trees We’ve Planted!
