Blog: Stories of home

Fruit, family, and foundations: Kiyokawa Family Orchards

Emilie Chen

Communications Manager

Alisha Howard

Community Outreach Coordinator

Randy Kiyokawa and daughter Rebecca.

Oregon

Food systems, Storytelling

In Oregon’s fertile Hood River Valley, the Kiyokawa Family Orchard has been family-owned and operated since 1911. Familiar to many Portlanders, Kiyokawa offers a wide variety of apples, pears, stone fruits, and value-added products that can be found in Portland’s farmers markets, schools, and grocery stores, as well as markets abroad.

The 207-acre orchards are currently managed by its third-generation owner, Randy Kiyokawa, who—despite having many concurrent needs on his farm that morning—cheerfully agreed to be interviewed. As well, he invited his daughter Rebecca, who is poised to continue the orchard’s generational legacy.

All photos were taken by Emilie Chen.

How did your farming journey start?

Randy: My grandparents, on both my mom and dad’s side, migrated from Japan at the turn of the century. That brought my [paternal] grandfather [Riichi] through Hawai’i. And at that time Hawai’i wasn’t a state. He went there because that was as much money as he had. So he went there, cut sugar cane to make enough money to make the trip all the way to the United States. The San Francisco Fire [of 1906] … prevented him from going to San Francisco and took him to Sacramento instead. He worked in the railroads, like a lot of the Chinese immigrants before the Japanese immigrants. … Eventually he settled here in Oregon, in a small town called Dee.

My grandfather worked clearing land, and in exchange, he was able to start farming in 1911.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of the picture brides that was pre-arranged [marriage]? That’s when my grandmother Rei then came over. [Riichi and Rei] had five boys, three girls—a big family to do a lot of the labor. My grandfather grew the farm—It was very large at one point, over 300 acres. That property is still with the Kiyokawa [family]; my cousin owns it now.

On clear days, the peak of Mount Adams can be seen to the north of the orchards.

Randy: Like in a lot of customs, the oldest son gets the farm. And my dad wasn’t the oldest. Dad—when he decided to come back after the internment [of people with Japanese ancestry in World War II], after serving in the military and working in Minnesota, Philadelphia—bought this place in 1951. I always tell people: I’m glad that my dad wasn’t the oldest, because Parkdale has a better view.

I have four older sisters, and [my parents] really wanted to have a boy. Back then it was, they had to have a son to take over the farm. Nowadays, we realize that women are just as good—if not better—farmers than guys. When I was younger, I knew I wanted to become either a policeman or a disc jockey. [But] I knew what my destination was going to be.

My grandfather was given the opportunity to start farming. My father was given the opportunity through the GI loan to start this farm. And I was given some great opportunities to expand it.

Can you describe some of those expansions?

I have probably about 35 orchard employees. I have another 20 who are more seasonal. So if you add it all up, about 50 to 60, part time or full time. The orchard employees are the backbone of my humble operation. We provide free housing and free utilities for our employees. We’ve been doing it for generations. When Dad bought this place, my grandfather and my dad built two little 12-by-20 cabins, just heated with a wood stove. It had electric lights and a refrigerator. [But it had] a communal shower house. That’s how it was for many years. There were mainly single guys or guys that didn’t bring their families or wives. And over the years, a couple of guys would ask, “Oh, can I bring my wife?” or “I’m going to bring my wife in a year or two.” That gave me time to plan and build. There’s a couple of manufactured homes that we brought in. We’ve been expanding that, and we went from where nobody stayed year round to just about everybody stays year round. The most impactful part is for the community, especially for schooling. The kids aren’t in school for two months and then gone for four. So the kids are getting a better education. [We’ve also] changed our farm to be vertically integrated: to growing, packing, shipping, selling, storing.

The main crop at Kiyokawa Family Orchards is pears, but many other fruits are grown as well.

Randy offers his interviewers a tour of the Kiyokawa packing and storage facilities.

What kind of crops do you grow? And do you have any value-added products?

Our main crop here in the valley is pears. Besides the pears, we grow a lot of apples—over 125 varieties. We grow peaches, plums, cherries, pluots, blueberries, grapes. So we’ve diversified the different things we’ve grown over time. We sell pears through our co-op; it’s one of the few grower-owned co-ops called Diamond Fruit Growers. They agree to take our fruit at the end of the season and sell it domestically and internationally. But for our apples, we sell all that locally, direct through our fruit stand, farmers markets, to restaurants, stores, and schools.

Have you developed any partnerships in your journey so far?

Randy: The USDA has some great conservation programs. Oregon Department of Agriculture had certain things, especially during the pandemic, like the Paycheck Protection Plan. There’s also energy programs to conserve energy. Those are the partnerships that help us out, because as a producer, we’re always selling at the lowest point. We are what they call “price takers,” whatever the market could give us. The USDA conservation programs help us reduce tillage, reduce sprays, reduce our carbon footprint, reduce water use. We improved our irrigation systems from ineffective aluminum hand lines with impact sprinklers to micro-sprinklers or drips. Whether it’s USDA or different organizations, they’ve held classes about the importance of riparian zones for beneficials. It wasn’t that my father or grandfather or anybody in those generations didn’t care. They just didn’t realize the impact of things. It’s not like our generation is any better, it’s just that we have more tools, and we have more knowledge. And I’m sure [my daughter] Rebecca’s generation will look back and say, “You guys are crazy. Why did you do this or that?”

Pluerries—a cross between plum and cherry—are also grown at Kiyokawa Family Orchards.

Rebecca drives a quad around the 207-acre orchard.

Do you have any words of advice for beginning farmers?

Randy: As you’re getting into farming, especially if you’re going to start building anything—whether it’s a barn, a house, farm stand, any type of structure—you’ve got to know your county land use laws and building permits. It’s always good to get to know them. They’re not adversarial. They will be, if you go in there with a chip on your shoulder. But overall, they want you to succeed, and they want to explain things. It’s always good to know a builder, if you don’t know how to do those things. Know your property. Know what your soil types are, the temperature, your climate, and what was grown there in the past. Everybody’s place is a little different. Familiarize with the experts around, whether it’s extension offices, experiment stations, neighbors, people that were on the farm before. It takes a lot of money to farm. It’s a lot of hard work, and it’s a lot of risk. We plan many years in advance for what we’re going to plant, what we’re going to grow or how we prune our trees. It’s long-term. It’s not like a crop you plant one year and harvest. We have to think six to 12 years down the road. [When] I budget, I make sure I have enough set aside for payroll, for inputs—whether it’s fertilizers, water, improvements on the farm, all these different things.

How do you approach succession planning?

Randy: We had a long talk with all three of [my kids], like, “Okay, if you guys don’t want to come back, let me know. I’ll downsize.” With that being said, [when] we increase the acreage, we increase the labor force. So to downsize would be hard, because that [would affect] the newest hires. I enjoy what I do. I don’t remember the last day I didn’t work. It would be very hard for me to find a person in a short amount of time that would be able to take over. That’s why [it’s great] having Rebecca here now; she could learn little bits and pieces. I don’t want to overwhelm her, and I would never expect her to do the same stuff I’m doing. Rebecca: I’m taking on the fruit stand side, learning the ins and outs, to be able to help them and grow with that fruit stand. I’m also working as a marketing manager, learning all of that, as well as food safety. I’m learning so much every day just from listening and being around dad.

Anything else to share?

Randy: I would say, I am most blessed, most grateful that I have these great people around me, whether it’s family, whether it’s my employees, my wife, and all the other people that come out here.

Oregon

Food systems, Storytelling

This page was published November 6, 2025
Last updated November 6, 2025

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Kiyokawa Family Orchards

Kiyokawa Family Orchards has been growing the finest produce available since 1911. Our orchard is family-owned and operated in Parkdale, Oregon. We’re proud to be a part of the famous Hood River Valley, where the nation’s finest apples and pears are grown.