Tanaka Farms began with Great-Grandfather Takeo, who was an Issei - first generation Japanese American - who immigrated from Hiroshima-ken, Japan in the early 1900s. After making the arduous journey to California, in 1922, his son, Farmer Grandpa George, who is a Nisei - second generation Japanese American- was born in Dinuba, California. His parents worked on a small farm as farm hands.

In 1941 Farmer Grandpa George gets his own truck to ship produce in La Habra, California.

But, in 1942 Farmer Grandpa George flees to Utah so he doesn't have to go into the WW2 Internment camps. While in Utah he meets his soon to be wife Grandma Chris!

In 1945, after the end of World War 2, Grandpa George and Grandma Chris come back to Orange County and reside in Fountain Valley, where they farmed various properties with tomatoes, vegetables, and strawberries.

In 1957 Farmer Tanaka was born in Fountain Valley. Farmer Tanaka is a Sansei, a third generation Japanese American.

From 1977 to the 1990s Farmer Tanaka grows wholesale tomatoes and strawberries. He even gets up to 300 acres and also starts his own packing and distribution across the country!

Farmer Tanaka went to Cal State Pomona where he studied Agricultural Business. It was here that he met his soon to be wife, Shirley, as she was studying Nutrition. Shirley also grew up in a farming family in Riverside and is a Sansei.

Like father, like son! Farmer Tanaka and his wife Shirley had their son, Kenny, in 1983...by the time he started preschool in 1986, the agritourism business model was about to become a reality!

Bringing Kenny's preschool class out to the farm for an educational tour was the spark! Kids learned about farming, how seeds turn into plants, picked some vegetables, and, of course, picked their own pumpkin! Now, over 30 years later, thousands of school children visit the farm every year!

Most of Orange County, especially Irvine, was farmland until the mid-1950’s when tract housing began to take over the cities. Suburban areas began to take over and very few farms have survived this change. Tanaka Farms is the only remaining family-run farm in Irvine that hosts educational and U-Pick tours. The 30 acres on which the farm is currently located, used to be part of a 100 acre strawberry farm.

In 1996 Strawberry Farms Golf Course took 70 acres of the land and left the remaining 30 acres to the City of Irvine. Two years later, in 1998, Farmer Tanaka moved his farming operation from Irvine Center Drive and Bake Parkway in Irvine, after land development forced them to move to its current location on Strawberry Farms Road, and began the transformation away from wholesale farming to responsible farming techniques and agritourism. The farm is now situated in a valley in the heart of Irvine. It's hard to believe that this beautiful farm can exist among all of the development in Orange County!

Farmer Kenny, is a Yonsei, or fourth generation Japanese American, and is married to Christine, a school teacher in Irvine. Together they have three children, Farmer Landon, Farmer Kaylee, and Farmer KJ all Gosei, or fifth generation Japanese Americans.

In 2003 the popularity of the Strawberry Tours skyrocketed from a few hundred visitors to thousands, and we continue to host individual families and schools from all over Southern California today!

Because of the ways farming has changed in recent years, the Tanakas have had to be creative with their endeavors in order to continue farming in Southern California.

2023 marks Tanaka Farms 25th anniversary at the current location on University Drive.

The farm's current operations include: a Produce Market Stand, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program, educational Farm Tours, Pumpkin Patch, Hikari Festival of Lights, and a covered Christmas tree lot.

Tanaka Farms now grows over 60 different varieties of fruits and vegetables and gives educational farm tours to thousands of school children each and every year. The Tanakas hope to continue their family farm for many years!