The 50-acre Grady and Lillie Auvil Teaching and Demonstration Orchard has been an important component of the Wenatchee Valley College tree fruit production program since the early 1990s. The late Grady Auvil and his wife, Lillie, were instrumental in making arrangements for the college to lease the land for the purpose of planting an orchard where students could receive hands-on instruction in progressive and environmentally sensitive growing techniques.

From the first five-acre apple block in 1991, students have participated in the planting of all 60 acres. About 50 acres are planted in apples (mostly Fuji) and 10 acres in cherries. The orchard contains many research blocks, such as one area containing 29 different dwarfing root stocks on which students chart the progress every year. One block contains 50 named and unnamed cultivated varieties of cherries; another half-acre block contains 100 different varieties of apples, from antique to modern hybrids. The orchard includes blocks reflecting different pruning and tree training systems. One four-acre block of apples is in the process of being certified as totally organic.

Students work in the orchard year-round, pruning, planting, fertilizing, spraying, trellising and training the branches of dwarf trees, applying integrated pest management techniques, and harvesting.