Glen Tanaka

Tanaka Farms
Irvine, California

“People can see and learn where their food comes from and how it’s grown.”

Urban Agriculture

No so long ago, Orange County, CA, teemed with fields of vegetables and fruit. Even as late as the 1990s you could drive by a citrus grove tucked between housing tracts in the spring and smell the sweet fragrance of orange and lemon blossoms. But over the past several decades, houses and commercial development crowded out most fields and farms – but not all.

In Irvine the Tanaka Family still grow strawberries, tomatoes and other produce on about 25 acres of land. The business these days isn’t about supplying the big-box stores or other retail grocers. It’s how they have turned a small farm into something special for the children and families of Orange County with a unique community supported agriculture (CSA) program, a produce stand along the side of a bustling boulevard, a Christmas Tree lot in December and the 20,000 school children who annually come to pick pumpkins in the fall, strawberries in the spring and watermelon and corn in the summer. Glenn Tanaka and son Kenny (the fourth-generation of the Japanese-American Tanaka family) run the year-round operation that is more agri-tourism now than agriculture.

Tanaka Farms

Glenn’s grandfather was born in Japan. His dad in Dinuba, California. Glenn has always farmed and earned a degree in agriculture from Cal Poly Pomona when his family farmed many more acres and was intent on expanding the business. As it turned out, that business model did not succeed in a changing Orange County, but today, Tanaka Farms has cleverly re-invented itself to serve an increasingly-urbanized community. It is definitely succeeding and educating people about where their food comes from. School children in Orange County recognize the face of man who grows their food. He is Farmer Glenn!

Agricultural Education

“We had a few bad years in the 80’s and really had to cut the operation down,” says Glenn. “About ten years ago as part of a community service, we brought some school kids out to the farm and gave them a tour of our pumpkin patch. We let them take a pumpkin home. More kids wanted to come. When we got serious about this, we started making money.” While many schools these days can’t afford field trips, there seems to be plenty of takers for tours of Tanaka Farms. “It’s a hands-on farming experience for the kids,” says Glenn. “We hand produce out, or let the kids pick it right out of the ground.” Tanaka gears the tours to Kindergarten and pre-schoolers and consequently lots of parents and teachers come along. “There’s a lot of tasting going on,” say Glenn, who also grows broccoli, celery, cauliflower, green beans, and bananas (for show). “In the summer time, kids can pick an ear of corn right off the stalk,” says Glenn. “People can see and learn where their food comes from and how it’s grown. It’s very reinforcing.”

Community Support

Tanaka Farms also delivers fresh produce to over 100 schools every week in their CSA program. Unlike some CSA programs where people buy into the farm businesses to enjoy the produce but are frequently disappointed when crop failures yield little food yet still require the same investment of funds, the Tanaka CSA program provides an added value – it serves as a fund-raiser for the school. For $25 a week, a box of fresh produce containing a variety of produce items, is purchased by a student’s family and delivered to the school. The school gets a $5 donation and dozens of families get produce grown at Tanaka Farms and other local small growers every week. Everyone benefits from the program. “The schools support their local farmers, get to enjoy healthy fresh fruits and vegetables that are delivered right to them, and we sell our produce,” says Glenn. Tanaka Farms does very little advertising. Word-of-mouth is spreading the program outside of Orange County into Long Beach, Palos Verdes and other parts of Los Angeles County. Recently, businesses have begun participating in the program. Tanaka Farms is a very different operation these days.