Asian American & Pacific Islander Farmers

Today we are highlighting some AAPI owned farms and farmers. Big shout out to these folks for the work they do to help feed so many communities — give them some love and click on their accounts to learn more!

This is by no means an exhaustive list so please feel free to comment below with additional farmers!

This is a post made in collaboration with @washyouthgarden.

Asian American Farmers in DMV 

  • Potomac Vegetable Farm @potomac_vegetable_farms

    • Farm started by Tony & Hiu Newcomb, a Chinese American, in 1960s in Fairfax County, VA

  • Dicot Farm @dicotfarm

    • 3 acre farm started by Erik de Guzman (Filipino American) along with his wife, Meghan Ochal, in Waldorf, MD that grows all kinds of Certified Organic vegetables for farmers markets & CSA 

  • Cultivate the City & H St. Farms @cultivatethecity @hstfarms  

    • A network of urban farms in NE DC specializing in growing strawberries and ethnic crops founded by Niraj Ray, an Indian-American

  • Young Sohn Gardens @youngsohngardens

    • farm in Derwood, MD founded by Sarah Sohn that provides a gathering space for people with autism and their allies

 

Asian American Farmers on West Coast

  • Kitazawa Seed  @kitazawa_seed

    • seed company based in CA specializing in Asian vegetable seeds since 1917

  • Cultural Roots Nursery @culturalrootsnursery

    • nursery in CA on Patwin land started by Zee Husain and Li Schmidt to increase the availability of plant starts significant to their heritages — Pakistani and Taiwanese

  • Namu Farm @namu_farm

    • farm founded by Kristyn Leach that grows plants and seeds significant to Korean-Americans in California's Central Valley 

  • Shao Shan Farm  @shaoshanfarm

    • farm in CA founded by Scott Chang-Fleeman, a 3rd generation Chinese American 

  • Another Spring Farm @anotherspringfarm

    • farm on Chinook land, founded by Serena Milne, a Black and Japanese queer femme farmer

  • Radical Family Farms @radicalfamilyfarms  

    • 1.5-acre farm in CA that focuses mostly on Asian produce founded by Leslie Wiser, a Chinese-Taiwanese-German American, and Sarah Deragon

  • Kamayan Farm @kamayanfarm 

    • farm 25 miles east of Seattle on Snoqualmie people’s land growing long beans, bitter melon, and ginger founded by Ariana de Leña, a Filipina American

  • Mai Nguyen @farmermainguyen 

    • a first-generation Vietnamese American farmer growing grains in CA and founder of Minnow, a people of color-led organization dedicated to securing farmland tenure for California’s farmers of color, while respecting indigenous sovereignty and furthering land rematriation 

  • Masumoto Family Farm @masumoto_family_farm 

    • 80 acre farm that grows certified organic peaches, nectarines, apricots, and grapes (for raisins), founded in 1948 by Takashi “Joe” Masumoto after returning to CA from being unjustly incarcerated during World War II with 120,000 other Japanese Americans


Pacific Islander Farmers

  • Ma’o Organic Farms @maoorganicfarms

    • 281 acre farm founded in 2000 in Waiʻanae growing organic food and young leaders working for a sustainable Hawai’i



Asian American Farmers on East Coast

  • Good Chi Farm @goodchifarm

    • half-acre farm in NY, founded by Betsy Ho, a 2nd generation Chinese American 

  • Choy Division @choydivision

    • ½ acre farm in the black dirt (super lush soil) in NY focused on growing East Asian heritage crops founded by Christina Chan, a 2nd generation Chinese-American

  • Asian Vegetable CSA

    • farm in NY founded by Katherine Chiu and Abe Young, both 2nd generation Taiwanese Americans

  • Assawaga Farm @assawagafarm

    • 3/4 acre farm in Connecticut specializing in Japanese varieties of vegetables founded by Yoko Takemura and Alex Carpenter 

  • Sang Lee Farms @sangleefarms

    • farm in Long Island, NY founded in 1940s by the Lee family to supply NY's Chinatown with quality Asian produce



Beginning Farmers

  • Nicole Yeo

    • a 2nd generation Chinese American immigrant currently farming with Randall’s Island Park Alliance on Lenape land (NYC). She is focusing her learning on intensive crop diversity, building soil, herbalism, building communities of mutual aid, and Asian ancestral food ways.

  • Yun-Yun Li

    • a 1st generation Hong Kongese American currently farming at Oak Spring Farm in Freeland, Maryland on Piscataway land

  • Yu-Shing Ni

    • a 1st generation Chinese-American growing food and providing youth garden education at Seed to Table in Sisters, OR on the traditional land of the Wasco, Wishram, Northern Paiute, and Warm Springs peoples


Collaboration Efforts

This post was a joint effort between Josephine Chu and Emilia Kawashima.

Josephine Chu, a Chinese American with parents immigrating from Vietnam and Hong Kong, supports produce distribution, community events, workshops, operations, and communications at Common Good City Farm. 

Emilia Kawashima is a beginner farmer and educator at the Washington Youth Garden, 1st generation Japanese-Polish American. 



More Reading

Upcoming Event

Asian American Farmers Look Back to Go Forward as part of CULINASIA: The Future of Asian Food in America, Presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center & the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

  • Wednesday, June 23, 2021, 6:30 - 8 pm ET

  • RSVP

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