Day 265: Tanaka Farms, Longmont, Colorado
📌APIA Every Day (265) - Frank Tanaka arrived in Colorado in 1907, joining this emerging agricultural community and playing a key role in establishing the Japanese Association in the Brighton/Fort Lupton area. Over time, the Tanaka family became prominent in the region's agricultural landscape. After Frank’s death in 1953, his sons Dick, Rocky, Sam, and Bobby, expanded the family operation into one of the largest vegetable farms in the area, spanning 5,000 acres across Boulder and Weld Counties. Unlike Japanese American farmers on the West Coast, who were forcibly incarcerated during World War II, those in Colorado avoided incarceration but still faced discrimination and restrictions.
The Tanaka family’s farm thrived for decades, building extensive distribution networks and producing year-round crops. However, financial pressures culminated in a foreclosure on their $3 million mortgage in 1989, forcing the family into bankruptcy and liquidation of assets. Following this setback, the Tanakas continued farming on a smaller scale. In 1992, Dick Tanaka leased a plot near the intersection of East County Line Road and Colorado 119, later expanding to Boulder County Open Space land near U.S. Highway 287 and Colorado Highway 52. The farm continued to honor traditional Japanese farming practices while adapting to market demands, producing both conventional crops and Japanese varieties.
After Dick Tanaka’s death in 2024, the family decided to close their farming operations, marking the end of an era. The closure represents not just the end of a family legacy but also a significant shift in Boulder County’s agricultural identity. For over a century, Japanese American farmers like the Tanakas shaped Colorado’s agricultural landscape, introducing innovations in vegetable farming and contributing to the region’s economic and cultural diversity.
LEARN MORE:
Times-Call: The end of Boulder County’s Tanaka Farms
Denver 7: 109-yr-old Dick Tanaka Farm history ends at Saturday auction
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