In the middle of a busy urban center, right off Kamehameha Highway, sits a fourth-generation, family-run farm tucked between the two phases of Pearlridge Mall in Central Oʻahu.
Sumida Farm is located in the ahupuaʻa of Kalauao and has been operating for nearly 100 years, cultivating and harvesting Hawaiʻi’s largest supply of watercress.
In 1928, Makiyo and Moriichi Sumida began growing watercress on five acres of land leased from Kamehameha Schools, supplying local families with a nutrient-rich food source.
Their son, Marsaru Sumida, became the farm’s second-generation manager. He was also the first president of the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau, founder of the ʻAiea Boat Club, and fought against Pearlridge developers’ plans to pave over the family farm in the 1970s.
The farm has since expanded to 10 acres, and its unique site rests atop a groundwater aquifer that flows throughout its patches, providing its watercress with fresh spring water.
Over the decades, Sumida Farm has weathered development, extreme weather events, destructive pests and a rapidly changing environment.
Spouses Emi and Kyle Suzuki raised their hands in December 2019 to take over from Emi’s aunty and uncle, Barbara and David Sumida, who were the third-generation farm president and operations manager.
Emi Suzuki is the fourth-generation Sumida Farm president. Her father, Steve Sumida, grew up on the farm and later led its largest infrastructure project, re-grading the terraced farmland in the 1970s.
Although Emi Suzuki did not grow up on the farm, she spent special moments throughout her childhood there, where her father instilled the importance of their family farm, their workers, and the history of the ‘āina.
Sumida Farm Manager Kyle Suzuki told HPR that he first visited the farm on vacation with Emi when he was just 18 years old. He quickly recognized that the farm was a really special place.
“I tell people all the time, if you meet Emi, she's very driven, and she has a lot of goals in mind, and I knew after that trip, which seems crazy, but I was like, one day, I will probably have to help oversee this place. And here we are, all these years later, keeping it going,” he said.
Path to manage the farm
In 2018, the Suzukis were working corporate jobs in Seattle when, during an Alaska Airlines flight, Emi Suzuki read an article about MAʻO Organic Farms. The story prompted the couple to consider leaving the corporate world to help run Emi’s family’s business.
“They had no next-generation planning to take over,” Kyle Suzuki said. “And so in 2018, we made that decision: what if we were to one day manage the farm and keep it going?”
They began discussing with Emi’s family about being next in line to run the farm. Everyone was supportive, and the decision aligned as they had children, who, on visits, loved coming to experience the farm.
A seven- to nine-year transition plan was put in place because Barbara Sumida was not ready to retire yet. She arranged to teach Emi and Kyle Suzuki the ins and outs of running the business. But in January 2020, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Six weeks later, Barbara died, and the transition happened overnight.
“We flew out, and I remember we landed, and on the radio, it was about March 2020, and they said all the incoming flights to the island were shut down,” Kyle Suzuki said. “We were basically on one of the last flights in. … So we were kind of managing the loss of Barbara, this family transition that wasn't really a transition, having to figure out how to keep this place running, and then the pandemic.”
He explained that their wholesale business shifted overnight from selling primarily through distributors to going directly into local grocery stores. This helped the farm make it through the pandemic without laying anyone off and even hired more people.
A unique business model
For the past six years, the Suzukis have updated, improved, and renewed the farm’s infrastructure, all while flying back and forth between Seattle and Hawaiʻi and continuing to work their corporate jobs. Kyle Suzuki said that managing the business through the pandemic showed that they could balance it in different ways.
“We’re not in the fields; our field workers are; they’re the true farmers who are day in and out doing that, but someone has to manage payroll, taxes, customers, the bills, hiring, training, all those things, and that's what the farm didn’t have when Barbara passed away,” he said.
Kyle Suzuki left his corporate job three years ago, though Emi Suzuki continues to work hers. This has allowed them to build up their team culture, increase benefits and pay, and offer new positions.
“I think the farm, it's so spiritual in that way that I feel like it brings unexpected challenges and opportunities as well as joys and hardships in a way to shape your life, but you always find a way to get through it,” Emi Suzuki said. “And right now, the way we're getting through it is having the ability to go back and forth and make that work. And that’s largely due to the team that's here daily, making it happen.”
Growing plenty watercress
Sumida Farm is supported by a team of 13 field workers, eight operations staff members, and a videographer, with many of the employees having been with the farm for decades.
The farm is operating under a 30-year lease with Kamehameha Schools, which was renewed about three years ago.
Each morning, the field crew clocks in bright and early at 6 a.m. They work shoulder to shoulder, cutting one pound of watercress by hand right at the root.
The crews then secure each one-pound bunch with a Sumida Farm twist tie, filling wheelbarrows with a couple hundred pounds at a time. The watercress is taken to the washhouse where it is washed by hand in spring water, then finished in city water.
“It takes about eight weeks to grow to maturity where we can harvest it,” Kyle Suzuki explained. “We don't grow in soil. We grow everything on a pebble bed because the watercress roots itself right on top. … And it's getting its nutrients not from soil, like a carrot or a potato. It's getting its nutrients from the water itself.”
The bunches are then packaged into 30-pound bundles and wrapped in canvas paper before being taken to a vacuum-chilling machine. The process helps extend its shelf life by keeping the watercress cool, fresh, and bright. From there, Sumida Farm partners and distributors pick up the watercress for delivery.
“There's times when we'll harvest a couple bundles, and we deliver them to the local Times Supermarkets, and those bundles were literally harvested within an hour and then are on the market shelves within hours of harvest. So that's as fresh as it can get,” Emi Suzuki said.
The meaning of supporting local farms
Since taking over Sumida Farm, the Suzukis have worked to educate customers and the community about what it really means to support local.
“All of our field workers are supported by people buying local,” Kyle Suzuki said. “We have local partners, whether it's vendors, a restaurant, our grocery store partners, whoever it might be. But then in addition to that, just the use of energy to get our watercress to those locations is so much less than if it's shipped from California or Florida.”
The education also extends to future generations through free school tours, giving students a chance to learn about how watercress is grown and even try it. This year the farm is set to host about 1,000 students, with the hope that they leave with a strong connection to the farm and where their food comes from.
But keeping a small local farm going also means navigating challenges outside of its control. As the seasons head into hotter and more humid months, watercress growth slows. The farm continues to harvest and grow, but the yields are lower.
The farm also continues to battle its number one pest, the diamondback moth. Some patches become so damaged that they have to be cleared out.
“All leafy green farms struggle with them,” Kyle Suzuki explained. “And that's actually what our sprinkler system is for. It's our pest control system. It's not for irrigation, but it makes the leaves slicker, and it's harder for the moths to attach eggs. The challenge, though, right now, is we have a lot of them.”
The farm also deals with what Emi Suzuki called “good pests,” and other natural effects on the crop that can change the appearance of the watercress.
“We're trying to educate our customers and the community that it's not bad for you,” she said. “I think some people want to know why their produce looks a certain way. For example, yellow spotting on this patch is actually caused by the rain. So when we have consistent and heavy rain, it can cause yellowing and damage to the water. Not bad for not impacting flavor. It's not a safety issue. It's just an aesthetic issue.”
She added that the farm does not want to lower its quality expectations, but wants the public to understand and broaden their idea of what good produce is. She worries that, with global warming and other events beyond the farm’s control, they may not have watercress to meet that standard 20 to 30 years from now.
As Sumida Farm approaches its 100th anniversary, Emi and Kyle Suzuki said they hope to honor all the different generations and communities that have helped keep the farm going for a century.
“We feel fortunate that we’ve been able to build upon the foundations created by each generation,” Kyle Suzuki said. “We've only been here a small amount of time compared to the 100 years, but we feel honored by the decisions they made, the values they lived by, that allowed the farm to continue, and that's why the farm's been here for as long as it's been.”
Looking ahead, the Suzukis said their primary goal is to ensure the farm exists. As the farm has been in their family for generations, they really see it as a community farm.
“What we're trying to do here is feed, nourish, and educate people, and preserve the ʻāina,” Emi Suzuki said. “So for me, I think my biggest vision and goal is just that it continues on.”
Connect with Sumida Farm on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. Learn more about watercress through the Sumida Farm blog.
