Kitayama Brothers, Inc. (KBI) Facilities Manager Stuart Kitayama talks about the founding of Kitayama Brothers Watsonville, in the early 1970's, by his father Ray Kitayama, aunt Kee Kitayama, and other family elders; and has since grown to 40 acres of green houses plus outdoor fields that have benefited from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) financial incentives and technical assistance, on Thursday, August 27, 2015. Agriculture has been a part of the Kitayama family for three generations, since before WWII, when his grandfather Takeshi Kit
Kitayama Brothers, Inc. (KBI) Facilities Manager Stuart Kitayama talks about the founding of Kitayama Brothers Watsonville, in the early 1970's, by his father Ray Kitayama, aunt Kee Kitayama, and other family elders; and has since grown to 40 acres of green houses plus outdoor fields that have benefited from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) financial incentives and technical assistance, on Thursday, August 27, 2015. Agriculture has been a part of the Kitayama family for three generations, since before WWII, when his grandfather Takeshi Kitayama began growing flowers and vegetables on Bainbridge Island, in the Pungent Sound, of Washington. In 1945, after internment at the Manzanar camp in California, his grandfather’s sons Tom and Ray Kitayama, returned to growing on Bainbridge Island, and established their own nursery business in 1948. The family became leaders in the wholesale flower industry and more family members joined with their California operations in Hayward and San Jose. Additionally they were able to acquire other local operations. Kitayama Brothers, Inc. currently produces a variety of lisianthus, lily, Gerbera, snapdragon and others, additionally; land is leased to other growers for strawberries and a variety of other crops. This operation is located ¼ mile from the Pacific Ocean (Monterey Bay) Kitayama Brothers, Inc., employs 100 - 300 people depending on the time of year. To water all the flowers, the business uses a combination of irrigation water sources that include ground water wells; sterile reclaimed (purple pipes) and recharge water from Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PVWMA), a rainwater collection system, hydroponics, and micro irrigation systems. Over the past 15 years, the amount of water from PVWMA has been reduced by 2/3s, making onsite ground water wells ever more important, and a factor in groundwater deletion. Today, there is a high demand on well; this has been a fac
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