The Legacy of Japanese American Farmers

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so we have a guest today who is going to enlighten us on the great contributions Japanese Americans made to agriculture in the United States beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing today. Our guest this week is Glenn Tanaka, a.k.a. “Farmer Tanaka,” a third-generation Japanese American farmer who is continuing the legacy of his family’s farms in Southern California. He joins us along with Ron Inatomi, a produce manager at Gelson’s Markets in Southern California. They will talk about the major contributions that Japanese American farmers have made to American agriculture since the early twentieth century. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, thousands of them were forced off their farms and into internment camps for the duration of the war. Most of them lost everything and had to completely rebuild. Listen to be inspired by their resilience. Learn about their dedication and loyalty to the United States, even though they had everything taken from them by the country they loved and of which they were legal residents.