Japanese-Americans Impact on American Agriculture

Produce Buzzers - A Podcast for Lovers of Fresh Fruits and Veggies

May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This week we have a very special guest on the show who is going to tell us about the substantial contribution that Japanese Americans made to American agriculture, especially on the West Coast, from California through Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Ron Inatomi is a third-generation (Sansei) Japanese American who has been working in the produce industry for over 40 years. In our discussion with him, we will learn how industrious the first and second-generation Japanese Americans were and how they rose to be some of the largest growers of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. That was before the war. But after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all of them were incarcerated and their lands taken from them. After the war, many of them returned and started over from scratch and once again rose to prominence. And some had some help from unexpected places. Tune in to hear this sad but inspiring story.