Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken Tanaka. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Tanaka Farms Family Started with the First Generation coming from Japan and started working for a farmer in Northern California. George 2nd generation was born in Dinuba, California. Before the war, George went to Utah. After the war, he came back to California but settled in Huntington Beach, California where he started farming and shipping his products. Glenn Tanaka 3rd Generation took over the family business and has moved around farming from Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and moved around various parts of Irvine. We now farm in our current location in Irvine where we have leased the land since 1998. Here we started doing various Agritourism activities to help sustain our farm. Kenny Tanaka 4th generation came to the farm full time in 2005. We have expanded to a Costa Mesa Location where we are trying to expand our agritourism.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There has been many struggles throughout the years. In the late 80’s Glenn struggled trying to expand and grow his wholesale business. Growing mainly strawberries and tomatoes, packing and shipping them across the country. He hit a couple of bad years where Mexico started importing these products and crashed the price and almost put Tanaka Farms out of business. Glenn sold off the assets he did have and any property he had to keep the business alive. He took on business partners to keep farming strawberries. It has been a struggle up to this day. Agritourism has made the business what it is today but it still has its struggles of farming.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Tanaka Farms?
Tanaka Farms is a family-owned farm run by Glenn and Shirley Tanaka. Kenny Tanaka the son is working full time on the farm and hoping to keep the Tanaka Farms business alive and well. The farm grows over 65 different fruits and vegetables throughout the year with our big crops being strawberries, pumpkins, corn, blackberries, and watermelon. Tanaka Farms invites visitors out to the farm to take tours on our wagon, lets them pick different fruits and vegetables and hopefully teaches people about farming. We have over 50 thousand school kids that come out to the farm every year to get their hands dirty and learn about farming. We provide fresh fruits and vegetables to schools as a fundraiser to them called our CSA “Community Supported Agriculture” program. We also delivery to people’s homes as well.
How do you think about happiness?
The happiest times is seeing children light up after eating a juicy, warm, ripe strawberry off the vine. Children’s white shirts get filled with red strawberry juice and it makes the best pictures. I also love to see children trying new things. I once had a child try our baby Maui onion. He didn’t want to try it but he tried it and ended up eating the whole thing from bulb to leaf.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: tanakafarms.com
- Instagram: @tanakafarms
- Youtube: tanakafarms
